


Good To The Bone

by ThulaLani



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-10-15 08:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 73,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10553230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThulaLani/pseuds/ThulaLani
Summary: He knows she's a Hexenbiest again but he just can't help himself. He wants her, a shot of episode 5x18 from last season, with one of my favorite scenes between Nick and Adalind. The show is over and I miss them already.





	1. Good To The Bone

Good To The Bone 

Nick took in a deep breath one last time before lifting the elevator door into his loft. His heart was already racing at a hundred miles per minute, a feeling he knew all too well since Rosalee shattered his…what exactly did he call his little corner of existence with Adalind, here in their “fome”? He wondered bitterly. Whatever it was, could have been was now gone.

“…She was supposed to tell you….” Rosalee had said regretfully and the ground gave way beneath his feet. He didn’t want to believe it, he couldn’t believe it even though Eve had first approached him with the possibility of Adalind’s hexenbiest returning. In the back of his mind, he’d always known it was a matter of when, not if, but to have it confirmed was a kick in the gut and he wanted to be sick. 

How could a simple statement turn his world upside down? Images of their violent past flashed insistently as he tried to contain his fury…his anguish at the revelation. Rosalee had done her best to allay his tumultuous emotions from tipping over into the dark abyss but all Nick could think about was the hexenbiest, treacherous and deadly and Nick had lain with her, side by side and even tangled up in each other’s legs, arms and warmth for several weeks while she lied to his face about what she was...a hexenbiest, Kelly's mother, his lover. He had tensed as his lower region…his whole body tingled with sensations that betrayed his heritage. 

A Grimm and a Hexenbiest? Impossible!

That was a few days ago, and Nick had done everything he could to avoid coming home to Adalind. If she was at all as perceptive as his books claimed of her kind, she would no doubt sense the change in him. So he left for the precinct early in the mornings and came home very late at night. He had even went on one of HW’s little errands to delay the confrontation that was sure to come the moment they came face to face, how could it not with their history? In between, he got even less sleep than his body was prepared to take, always listening, watching for everything…anything, but there had been nothing. 

Finally he’d caved. He knew he couldn’t live like this any longer, banished (sort of) from his own home, regardless of the fact that it was his own doing. He missed his son…he even missed…how it used to be between them, he had caught himself almost thinking of Adalind as he left the precinct. It was as much as he was willing to admit to himself without causing an upheaval of everything he knew about the world in which he lived. 

The moment had finally come. Nick took a tentative step into the loft.

Adalind was sitting at their table with files and papers sprawled haphazardly but no doubt in some order only she understood. Their eyes eventually locked on one another and Nick felt his lungs expel breath he hadn’t realised he'd held until he saw her face. 

Adalind. 

She looked no different than last week when they decided to shower together, her eyes were still crystal blue, her hair the colour of the sun and she was no less alluring. 

Nick took another step into the unknown. 

“Is Kelly asleep?” He asked when the silenced between them dragged on too long.  
“Finally, I think he's teething.” she sighed.  
“…Already?” He asked. Their son was a safe subject, he though as he ran out of words to speak, the tension, building up already.  
“Yeah, I think. I'm not sure. I've never really gotten this far before.” She said in a self-deprecating way that made him twitch uncomfortably so he walked over to Kelly’s cot to check on their son but also to calm himself before doing something completely stupid like comfort her because it wasn’t her fault in any way that she never got past a fortnight with Diana. That was his mother's doing, and his. Nick stamped down the guilt that had been slowly creeping up on him when he least expected and it never helped matters knowing Adalind had forgiven him his role in stealing away her first child. It was his fault Diana was missing yet she blamed herself nonetheless. 

“How's work going?” He asked another safe question, reigning in his fruitless thoughts.  
“Okay. It feels good to be back.” She said nervously.  
“Is Kelly liking it?”  
“Yeah, we make a pretty good team. He makes some pretty tough clients relax; they kind of forget about their problems.”  
“Maybe I should bring him to the precinct.” 

He wished he was relaxed that very minute but there was no such reprieve, not with the way she looked at him, with longing. Nick turned his head, refusing to think about what more that laid behind those beautiful big, blue eyes, that was dangerous territory and he was already teetering over the edge. 

“I’m sure he'd love a little detective-man-dad time, which…I wouldn't mind myself, except substituting ‘dad’ with ‘lover.’” 

Damn.

He felt his whole body sway precariously further over the edge with each breath he took. His chest filled with air he refused to let out. Any attempts to back away from the edge, from her was proving futile, “Yeah, I…I…guess we’ve both been a little too busy lately.” He gives a paltry excuse.

“Yeah. I know things have been a little tense…”

That was the understatement of the century.

“…And…I'm sorry.”

This was unexpected. He dared to look her in the eye, risking once more falling surely and deeply in those eyes....

“This isn't the easiest relationship because of how we started. Trust isn't a natural thing for us, but…I think we need to work on that.” She pleaded before leaning forward, their lips brushing gently against one another, not once and not even twice. Nick, despite himself, dove head first into the sweet nectar that was Adalind Schade, mother to his son, hexenbiest, lover. His whole body was already aflame, a runaway inferno with only one thing left to quench its deadly hold on him. 

“This is not stopping here.” She said and like a moth to a flame, he followed closely after her, desperate for every inch of her. As they entered their bedroom, Nick grabbed both sides of her hips with a fierceness that overwhelmed his senses and pulled her back against his own body, ridding them of the torturous chasm between them, their bodies swaying to a primal beat only they could hear. He grunted under his breath as Adalind leaned slightly forward with the upper half of her body, pressing her lower half even deeper against its counterpart, driving him wild with pent up need and frustration he’d firmly buried deep the day he found out she was a hexenbiest again.

“I need you so much right now,” he said suddenly with no more reservations. 

He did want her, badly so. Adalind swivelled between them without breaking contact and raising her chin, he saw a desire in her eyes than could only rival his own.

“Then take me Nick Burkhardt because I am all yours.” She breathed in his ear, igniting him beyond his ability to stay in control.

Adalind pulled away from him, her hips sashaying side to side as she walked backwards towards the bed they shared since the night she asked him to sleep with her and he'd spent the whole night agonising over the close proximity of such a warm and lush body lying next to his hardly weeks after his last encounter with Juliette. Guilt over his waning feelings for Juliette had gnawed at him all throughout the night, none more so than when Adalind’s hand found its way around his waist before their first morning together at the loft and Nick had not attempted to move it until she began to stir and only then did he distance himself from her, without Adalind realising what just transpired between them. 

And now she was calling to him and Nick was powerless to resist her without causing himself greater torment. Adalind stood at the foot of the bed and stripped down to her modest underwear, her two burgeoning mounds begging to be released from captivity. Unable to hold back any longer, he unged at her with a quickness that made her giggle, pressing her hard against their bed as he devoured her like mad man, so consumed he was with his desire to have her, to mark her and make her his completely. All thoughts of the hexenbiest abolished from his mind and body as his hunger for Adalind grew fiercer and all the more furious after days…weeks of denying himself her body, her kisses and her love. When he finally plunged himself deep inside her, it was like coming up for air after being held down under water for too long. Like an addict, he felt the sweet relief inside but also the ravenous pangs that wanted more and more of her insistently with every thrust. Adalind clung desperately to him sighing and begging him with every moan.

"I love you, she breathed in his ear, between his lips and into his very soul. Hexenbiests are treacherous, deceitful witches, his head told him but not this woman looking up at him, vulnerable and abashed. And in that moment he loved her but his lips said not one word. He couldn't. His heart had broken once already, so he only hoped his body would be enough. Nick knew it wasn't fair to her but it was all he could ever give anybody, all he was capable of giving. 

Twice that night, he took her to the furthest reaches of the stars and back, with echoes of his name mingled together with breathy moans of pressure that shot fire into his blood. He was never one to be self absorbed but he'd quickly learned, since the night before he left for Germany, that he rather enjoyed making her come, and now, how much more so, knowing what she was, that her body still quivered feverishly when he touched her in the places only he knew brought her the greatest pleasure? 

Suddenly Nick became a little greedy, wanting to have her once more at the mercy of his touch but only relented when he heard her soft, long breaths, warm against his chest. Adalind had fallen asleep with one possessive arm wrapped around his torso, their legs intertwined.

"I love you too." He said softly while looking down at the matted mop of blond locks beneath his nose and kissed the crown of it and closed his eyes for his first peaceful night of sleep he'd known for a while.


	2. Trust Me Knot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I have decided to add more "chapters", basically more one shots of the scenes I wished we could have seen on the show. I'm not rewriting the show itself, just filling in the missing bits. I hope you all enjoy my musings of one of my favourite pairings on television in a very long time.

Trust Me Knot

Nick was leaning up against their table, his arms crossed firmly against his chest. He looked haggard but also strong. Adalind wanted so much to run into his arms, as the night before at Sean's mansion but her feet took each careful step one at a time, studying the visage of the man she loved more than she dared imagine possible. He gave her weary smile and she felt her heart skip a beat. Adalind soon opened her arms and Nick melted into her embrace.

"Are you okay?" They both asked at the same time.

"I'm fine." she said hoarsely but Nick leaned back to examine her for himself, if it was in deed true. She watched as his eyes darted round her face looking for evidence of fresh abuse and then made their way down to the fading bruise around her neck and watched them storm over once more as if it was the first time he saw it.

"You, on the other hand, look like you haven't slept a wink since I last saw you." She said.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly, only he didn't look it.

"But are you, really?" She insisted, cupping his face with both hands. Something was wrong, but then since Sean ran for mayor, everything in the lives had gone wrong. This man standing before her, he wasn't the Nick she knew but then again, she had only lived with him for six months, so how well did she really know him? A little embarrassed by her sudden boldness, Adalind let him go, folding her arms against every instinct in her body. Was she wrong to be concerned after the last few weeks? It was still so strange to be so near him and want to lose herself in his kisses but also wary of the uncertainty of the changes between them, primarily, her Hexenbiest returning.

On the night Sean had left the mansion with Bonaparte, she'd been afraid for Nick, afraid she'd killed him when she coughed out the address to the loft. However, by some miracle, he had survived and Bonaparte was dead. Relief had washed over her body when Sean told her the news, but he'd left her with ominous words that chilled her to the bone, "You should have never fallen in love with Burkhardt. Now you're gonna regret it," Sean had said after grabbing a fresh shirt, suit and tie and then disappeared into the night.

It wasn't the first time Sean had ever threatened her. Their long and turbulent history was peppered with similar moments but now things were different. Adalind wasn't the same as before, not self-absorbed, not selfish and not alone. She had her son to think about and was absolutely in love with Nick Burkhardt, Portland Detective and Grimm. She wasn't afraid for herself, she was well abled to take care of herself but the heavy burden of worry and fear for the worst incapacitated her and thus she called Nick at the first chance she got.

"Adalind…." She had heard Nick's voice say and she was relieved.

It was all she needed to hear before a flurry of words tumbled from her lips until she finally begged to see him. She had needed him. He was the very air she breathed. Long forgotten was her betrayal, revealing the loft's address to Bonaparte just hours before or the fact that they never really addressed her powers beyond their last night together and what that meant for their barely fledgling relationship, But she had to be with him, and was willing to risk it all to get it.

Nick had come to the mansion, just as he'd said he would but more than that, Nick had swept her into his arms, reigning down kisses she was all too happy to drown in only because they were from Nick but that was yesterday. Emotions ran high, yesterday. Today, he was back to being reserved, brusque even. She wondered what had happened to the man that had called her earlier at the precinct and told her to meet him, "Where you first told me you loved me," he'd said with unmistakable feeling that left her too flustered to speak.

"Adalind, I'm okay, really." He said again, this time gentler as he gathered her back into his arms. "It's just…it's been a long day."

He was correct, even if Sean was currently in handcuffs, thanks to Hank and Wu's quick actions, it didn't solve their problems. She was still living at the mansion against her will and Nick was still a fugitive of the law, hunted like a criminal when the real criminal was the mayor-elect of Portland. When would this nightmare be over? She thought, not wanting to burden Nick any more than he already was with her negative thoughts.

He then brushed his lips sweetly over hers, "Did you bring what I asked?"

"Yes," she replied and pulled out a thick white rope several feet long, from her purse.

"Is that it?"

She smiled at his incredulity.

"Well, not exactly. You need another ingredient for the spell…me." She explained nervously, already tensing at the thought of woging for the first time in front of Nick.

Before ending up under Black Claw's thumb, Adalind had hidden the truth about her powers returning from Nick. She had been vigilant, keeping her abilities in check, carefully hidden from him as she tiptoed around him for weeks, agonising about what to do. As it turned out, it was never necessary because Nick already knew her powers had returned, but unfortunately, their talk, on their last night together ended without any real resolution before Black Claw ripped her away from the only home she'd ever known, with Kelly in tow. Adalind now wished she could go back in time and lay all the cards on the table and hopefully, he'd do the same with her. She would know where he stood and maybe then she wouldn't feel so anxious about woging in front of him.

"What's the matter?" he asked suddenly, his voice thick with worry.

"It's nothing," she fibbed.

"It's not 'nothing'," he said and took her free hand in one of his. "If the spell is too dangerous, we don't need to do it. I'd rather you be safe than have you risk your life for me. I can find another way to deal with Renard."

"It's not that. The spell is safe at least for those who live up to their end of the deal…"

"…But?"

Adalind sighed heavily, and turned away from him, taking one last opportunity to collect her thoughts before taking the plunge into depths unknown. She was grateful when Nick didn't follow after her. The situation was hard enough on her nerves.

Adalind stopped a few feet away from him, at the kitchen island and turned around to face him.

"I love you so much…" She began but couldn't go any further. "Nick, I am a Hexenbiest…." She breathed.

"I know that. I have known that for a while now." He almost grinned.

"I know you know that. What I don't know…what I'm trying to say is…ugh! I don't know what I'm trying to say."

"Maybe if you take a deep breath and start at the beginning." He stepped towards but she took another step away, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

"Adalind…?" He pleaded and she could have kicked herself for causing him even more distress but she had to know, but how to ask….

She thought of woging without warning to gauge his reaction but immediately decided against it. She didn't want to scare him off even if it wouldn't be the first time he sees her in that way. But that was a lifetime ago, before Kelly, before she knew the taste of his kisses and missed them when they separated. The only time they had ever talked candidly about her Hexenbiest, she'd already taken the suppressant, and the 'biest' was so far removed it from either one of them to ever complicate things.

Adalind's palms began to sweat. She truly loved him. Perhaps if he'd felt the same way, it wouldn't be so hard to show him that other side of her, a side she desperately wished was long dead and buried but to her shame, it wasn't.

"Nick, that night…when I showed you what I had become again, you…you never told me how that made you feel…being with me…." She said softly, staring at her feet at the very last possible moment, unable to look him in the eye, in case her fears were confirmed and he didn't love her, that he couldn't love a Hexenbiest. Wasn't that why he and Juliette never made it, because Nick the Grimm couldn't be with monsters like them? But what of the kisses at the mansion?

"I thought we were over this already but I guess we're not," he said kindly, closing the gap between them.

She could feel his eyes boring deep shafts into her soul.

"That night, you told me you were scared and I told you I would never hurt you. Adalind, I would never, ever hurtyou."

"I know that." She said and she believed him.

"Then what's the problem?"

The look on his face made her fall in love him even more than she had. Sadly, she didn't have the courage to ask him if he felt even a fraction the same as she did.

"The spell needs Hexenbiest blood."

"I kind of figured that when you said 'you' were the other ingredient…huh, so that is what has you acting this way, your Hexenbiest?"

She couldn't respond however, her silence did all the talking for her. Adalind sighed wearily.

"What really has you worried?"

Your rejection, she thought to herself, afraid to speak so openly despite her longing to do so.

"I'm afraid that you will look at me differently once you see my real face." It was as close to the truth as she dared to speak.

"…As to opposed to how I'm looking at you now?"

He pulled her chin up so she could see his eyes and what she saw behind them sent electricity shooting from the top of her head down to her toes. The hair on her skin raised on end as Nick leaned closer so their lips barely touched.

"How am I looking at you right this moment?" He asked so seductively, she could taste his breath, feel its warmth seeping into her skin and setting fire to her veins.

Adalind leaned back, lifting her mouth to join with his in a feverish dance of desperate longing and perfect joy. She felt Nick's hand slide from holding her chin, down to her lower back and even lower, almost lifting her off her feet as her pressed her body against his so she could feel his desire.

"Does this answer your question? Do you finally understand, that I can't quit you Adalind Schade, not without destroying myself in return?" He said before plundering her lips for more.

"Nick…." She couldn't say anymore, getting lost in the purest bliss she'd ever known.

Nick lifted her off her feet, circled back to the table in the middle of the loft and placed her on top of it. Adalind desperately locked her feet together around his hips, causing delicious friction between the two throbbing centres of their bodies. Nick grabbed a fist of her hair and pulled with gentle assertion until he was towering over her completely, almost devouring her. Adalind dug her nails into his lower back, her body begging for so much more. Taking the initiative, she pulled back and swiftly removed her coat, which had pulled too tightly between herself and the table. Nick's lips crashed once more against hers before she had a chance to lift her woven top over her head and exposing the lacy bra.

He released a primal sound from deep inside, it was somewhere between a grunt and a moan when Adalind, after giving up on removing any more items of clothing, hugged him fiercely. Nick circled one hand to her round, perky breast. He applied enough pressure, beginning in the outer extremities and peaking at the erect centre and did the same to its twin, inciting muffled cries of pleasure that rang throughout the loft.

"If…if…it weren't…for Renard, I'd take you right here and right now," he said between kisses, his voice was heavy with need.

"Ugh…don't remind me…." She said, regretting the mention of his name immediately.

"Well, after today, we won't have to worry about him, which is why the spell you are going to cast is exactly what we need."

"Are you sure?"

"You said it yourself, Renard will have to do as we ask or choke to death."

"Okay, back up. When did Renard agree to make a deal?"

"He hasn't but he will….and uhm…I'm going to need another favour from you?"

"…Anything."

"Not so fast, wait until you hear what it is before jumping in head first."

"If it means your freedom, I don't care." She said sternly.

"Alright, I know Renard's been arrested for the death of his campaign manager. He claims he didn't do it but its falling on deaf ears, especially when circumstantial evidence places him at the scene around the time of her death, his prints are all over her house, including the bedroom, where she died…."

"Okay…?"

"I need you be his alibi and before you say anything else, he's in a rough spot right now which is why we can use that against him and get my life back at the same time. If I can get him to agree, he'll have to let me go, drop all the charges against me and give me my job back."

"…Just like that?"

"What other choice does he have, fifteen to life?"

"I don't know. I don't trust him, not for one second."

"Neither do I but this 'trust me knot' deal is the best way to guarantee he lives up to his end of the deal."

"Okay," she said but he didn't hear her as he continued with his train of thought.

"…And it gets us one step closer to what we really want…us." He said finally.

Sean had asked him the same thing earlier at the precinct and she flat out refused him. He had everything to gain and after her took everything from her, she wasn't interested in helping him even one little bit. Diana would have to understand, she had reasoned. Adalind would never lift her finger for Sean's freedom, but then he wasn't Nick.

"I'll do it," she said a little louder.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

At that point, he kissed her, mussing her hair some more. The sound of the garage door opening below them forced them to stop.

"Our unwelcome guest is here," said Adalind.

Nick nodded.

"We're almost there." He told her, looking deeply into her eyes, smiling. "And unless you want Renard, Wu and Hank to see you in this state of undress, I suggest you freshen up," he teased her.

He gave her one last kiss and then released her, disappearing into what used to be their bedroom, to make ready for the spell that would give Nick back his freedom and eventually give back their lives, for things to be the way they were before she ever heard of Black Claw. Adalind stood before the mirror and cast her eyes on her swollen lips. She brushed her finger over every spot Nick's lips touched, ghosting every one of his kisses and thinking to herself, "Soon…."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you all for taking the time to read, please feel free to comment.


	3. Oh Captain, My Captain

He screamed into the night as he woke from a restless, fitful sleep. It was just a dream he breathed, just a dream. Nick cringed as a cold, damp shirt clung spitefully across his chest and back in the pitch-dark bedroom. He stretched out his arm expecting to feel the warm, supple form of Adalind but instead was confronted by a cold nothingness that sent a chill down his sweaty back.

"Adalind?" he called out more awake than asleep, ignoring the erratic beating of his heart because he knew he was overreacting. She was probably in the bathroom or attending to Kelly and so didn't want to wake him, after the worst week of his life, he needed the rest. But there was nothing, there was not whimper from Kelly or Adalind humming a nursery to get their son to fall back asleep, nothing. The loft was bathed in total darkness and silence so loud he could have gone deaf.

Reaching for his pistol, he called out her name a second time, this time a little louder and still nothing. He knew he was overreacting; he just got his family back, against all odds. Adalind and Kelly were finally home with him, safe and secure but something didn't feel quite right and he couldn't ignore that feeling just because he didn't want to imagine reliving the nightmare of being without them all over again, when he found them gone and at the mercy of Sean Renard and his Black Claw cohorts. Nick still couldn't believe the royal bastard, claiming them as "his" family live on television for all of Portland to see and not for the first time did Nick actually consider committing cold-blooded murder than on that night and he came extremely close to it.

Nick stealthily sprang from the bed and put his super hearing to good use as he listened out to every creek, snickering within the loft walls and a truck crawling past the factory plus an orchestra of a millions sounds outside the loft that he wasn't interested in. He saw a dim glimmer of light filtering through the obscured glass panels of his bedroom sliding door and breathed a sigh of relief, letting his gun-held hand fall limp to his side as he stepped onto the loft floor.

"…Nice of you to join us, Grimm." Someone said roughly, as if cutting the silence with the grace of a hacksaw, causing nick to snap to attention at the familiar accented voice of Conrad Bonaparte.

How, when? The question crashed violently against the walls of his mind.

"…You? I watched you die…." Nick pulled his gun but Bonaparte telekinetically ripped it from his grip and smashed it against the furthest wall away from him.

"As you can see, news of my death have been grossly exaggerated." Bonaparte sneered at him.

After the initial shock of seeing the Zauberbiest began to wane, his first thought was his family, "Adalind…my son?"

"They are exactly where they are supposed to be. I have great plans for this city…this country and I'm not going to let a Grimm get in the way of achieving them."

Nick lunged his whole body at Bonaparte but found his feet, his whole body completely frozen to the spot.

"No, that shall not do. I was patient with you but no more. Your impertinence is as a steaming pile of hot cow dung before me and it must be dealt with accordingly. Sean should have handled you a long time ago but for what professional courtesy he felt, like a child, he spared your life. I, however, am not so governed by such sentimental trappings. Never send a boy to do a man's job. You…your Adalind, you both were given a choice and you both spurned the gracious opportunity I afforded you two to be a part of something bigger than even me or you or the heritage you hold so dear that pulls you in every which way like a puppet on strings. You think Grimm's are the top of the food chain in the natural order but you're wrong, you're an endangered species waiting to be culled by a smarter and stronger predator and I am going to make it my personal mission to end every last one of your kind, beginning with your precious son."

"No, you will not touch my son!" Nick bellowed, desperate to break free from the invisible force that held him prisoner.

"Touch your son? I wouldn't dream of it," there was that sneer again and Nick's blood immediately ran cold.

Nick pushed with all of his might, willing his feet, his hands to obey his command but it was as though his head and body were surgically severed from one another and his body belonged to another. Rivulets of sweat streamed from his brow, blinding him but not before he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He couldn't see who it was until Adalind stood in his line of sight, forming a triangle between the three of them.

"Nick," she whimpered as Kelly writhed restlessly in her arms.

Nick could just barely make out the bruising below her right eye, a bloodied cut to her lip.

"You bastard, let them go! This is between you and me."

"Not before you learn an important lesson, not until you know your place in the pecking order in the New World staring with Portland."

"Nick, I cannot move. He's so much stronger than me." She cried out as blood began to trickle down her nose, whatever she was doing, it was hurting her and he wanted her to stop.

"Adalind!"

"I'm trying…to break his hold…on…me…." She said as her resolve weakened and her eyes began to bleed, mingling with her tears.

Nick watched helplessly as Adalind's hands moved around their son and he saw her reach for the ring on her finger and began to pull.

"No!" He wailed acutely, fighting against the hold Bonaparte has them.

"I cannot…please…stop," she begged the Zauberbiest, her voice heavy with desperate pleas of a mother.

"Let them go, you want me. Fight me…STOP!" Nick joined her in chorus.

"But I'm not the one doing anything."

Nick watched as Adalind's bloody tears fell in earnest. She sorrowfully looked him in the eye, "I trying…I can't…I love you…and I'm sorr…!"

Adalind pulled the cursed ring from her finger.

"NOOOOO!" his cries echoed throughout the loft as he watched spellbound, in horror and disbelief, as her flesh turned to stone from the tips of her fingers, up her arms, through their son and finally to the rest of her body. And when there was nothing left that resembled the two people he adored the most in the world, he crashed on to the floor, released from Bonaparte's spell.

"No…Adalind! What have you done?" he turned, yelling at Bonaparte.

Nick scrambled to his feet and bounded to where his family had just been turned into stone-like statues. He stretched out his hand, hoping to feel them again, warm beneath his fingertips, hoping to feel the life coursing through their veins but they were as cold to the touch as they were dead.

"Don't be mistaken, as you can see, all of this is your doing…"

Nick didn't wait for Bonaparte to utter another word before attacking him, landing the his first and only punch square in Bonaparte's lower jaw.

"That was a gift from me to you, the next one will cost you dearly," the Zauberbiest said.

And Nick came at him once more and punched nothing but air.

"Fool," said Bonaparte.

Nick felt a heavy, swift but kick to the chest, no, not a kick but a 12000pound wrecking ball to the chest, once, twice, thrice before collapsing on the floor spluttering threats to decapitate the Zauberbiest clean but he was dangerously outmatched and outgunned. Bonaparte sauntered towards the remnants of Nick's family and extended his shrivelled up hand.

"Y-you…stay the hell away…fr-from them!" Nick sputtered with painful rage.

Bonaparte simply laughed and as if life couldn't be crueller, the stone statue of two crumbled to dust at Nick's feet, shattering to a million pieces, along with his heart.

His anguished cries filled the loft, drowned only by a sinister cackle of the only other person present, pushing venomous tendrils through the recesses of his mind. Nick felt a white hot pain laying waste to his mind and body, so much so that he thought he was going crazy with grief when he heard a distant but familiar sweet voice calling out to him. Adalind. She was calling him towards her and he wanted nothing more than to run towards it at full speed and end this pain ripping him to shreds but his body and mind were truly spent.

"Nick," she called out again and again, her voice getting a little closer that he almost believed she was standing right next to him and whispering in his ear and then it was gone.

"Adalind…don't go, please don't leave me…." He could hardly speak, it hurt so much.

"Nick wake up, it's just a nightmare. I'm not going anywhere, Nick!"

He opened his eyes in an instant and there she was, her fair hair cascading in every direction without a care in the world.

"Adalind?"

"…Yes."

He heard the warmth in her voice, imagined her concerned smile in the darkness. Nick's hand lifted to her face, tracing every soft curve and ending with her plump lips which his mouth promptly fell upon hers in a potent mixture of relief, hunger and pain.

"I thought you'd…"

"I would never leave you, never again." she wouldn't let him finish.

"Never…." He repeated after her. He remembered her stony visage and suddenly he couldn't breathe. The furious beating of his heart told him otherwise that certain things were simply out of his power to control but his soul rebelled against such a wretched thought. He held her desperately close to his heart, swearing against universe to defy him in this. He and Adalind had found each other, through impossible situations, one after another and he'd be damned if he lost her again, he determined in his heart.

"Are you alright? Whatever your dream, it must have been something because you were thrashing so much, yelling at I-don't-know-who or what, I couldn't wake you. You had me worried there, for a while."

"I am alright now that you're here." He said sincerely.

She looked at him expectantly but he could say much more, it would be speaking the unspeakable into existence. All he wanted to do was hold her and never let her go.

"I'm going to get you a drink of water, you're shaking like a leaf." She said; concern still in her voice.

"No! No, I'll be fine, just stay her with me. You being here with me is all the comfort I will ever need."

"Do you want to talk about it, your dream?"

He'd rather forget it altogether, he thought to himself.

"I don't remember." He lied.

Adalind didn't look like she believed him but she didn't push him either, instead she snuggled closer to his side, taking his cue and clinging to him with as much ferocity.

"Whatever it was, it was just a dream. I'm not going anywhere, at least not without you. I know I hurt you when I took Kelly and left and yes we've already talked this out but clearly something is still bothering you…I have hurt you deeply and I am truly sorry."

"Adalind, I said it before that you don't have to apologise, not to me of all people. You did what you had to do. They had your daughter. I'd have never lived with myself knowing I kept you two apart yet again. It's because of me you lost her in the first place and I would never have stood in your way to get her back. Yes, you were gone and…it…was hard…but I have you back, you and Kelly. We're both free, I couldn't ask for more."

After a few moments, Nick felt her whole body go limp against his, her breathing, soft and lengthy. Adalind had fallen back to sleep but he couldn't sleep a wink, not that he would have tried to. Twice that night he'd woken from terrible dreams of his death as well as hers. The former, his own death happening right there at the loft when Black claw had sent their finest to kill him and his friends but they didn't because Adalind had warned him of the pending attack which gave his friends ample time to escape unseen. He'd shaken off his death like water off a duck's back. However the latter, Adalind's death, it was something he couldn't comprehend not even in a dream.

For so long he'd kept his true feelings at bay, to protect his heart. He'd already lost his mother and there was the mess with Juliette which lead to his mother's death. Adalind was a different matter altogether…from enemies to lovers and they had wonderful son to top it all off. Nick couldn't even remember the exact day, moment his feelings for Adalind had changed, perhaps he'd always had feelings for her but had buried them so deep inside he spent years refusing their existence and now that he found her, he felt the ticking of a clock sounding the end like some cruel joke designed to torment him. He fought his feeling for so long and now there wasn't enough time in the world to enjoy being in her presence.

He stared at the cursed ring glistening on her delicate hand resting on his chest. How many times had he wanted to rip it off her finger and throw it as far as the east is to the west? Black Claw may be dead but their deadly legacy lived on building an invisible force field between them, separating them once again. Nick leaned over and kissed the top of Adalind's golden crown.

"Hmm…Nick…love…" She said while deep in the throes of sleep.

He smiled warmly. Curse or no curse, Adalind was his. He only wished he could join her wherever she was, and relieve some of his tension. He held her even tighter.

Suddenly he remembered the stick, the same mysterious stick he and Monroe found in the Black Forrest of Germany. The same stick that saved his life, perhaps it could break the curse….

With that thought, Nick closed his eyes, hopeful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you've realised (as I did after the fact) this actually doesn't happen during the 6x03 episode. When we see Nick having the nightmare of being shot, it's in 6x05 which is unrealistically too late for the story I had in mind. I wanted Adalind to be aware of his continuing nightmares the very first night she moves back into the loft which on the show is in 6x04, although it's on the same night as 6x03. Basically, I've fudged the continuity to try and construct a more cohesive picture of Nick and Adalind after she came home. The writers stuffed too much filler between the end of Oh Captain, My Captain and anything of some signicance between Nick and Adalind which is all the way in 6x05. Sigh. I realise that I may have a tougher time piecing together all the things missing from the show and still follow the time line of the actual show. In short, bare with me if I make any continuity/canon errors.


	4. El Cuegle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned at the end of the previous update, the show's continuity ismessed up to say the least. There's just too much filler between Nadalind sharing scenes together and since the whole purpose of my writing is to fill in the gaps, missing scenes, important conversations we never saw and anything else I wished they could have shown us about this couple. I may end up changing certain events or the order in which they appeared on the show in order to make sense of everything. Bear with me and please enjoy.

El Cuegle

He hooked the rusted metal box under his arm as he climbed his way back into the loft. He couldn't help but note the way his blood tingled with each step he took, uncertain if it was because he'd decided to finally come clean to Adalind about the stick. He didn't want any more secrets between them despite her insisting he keep important information from her after Black Claw. Or if it was the prospect of using the stick to break the curse on the ring that she wore so she could finally be free of Renard and any danger posed to her children that made him eager to tell Adalind about the treasure he found in the Black Forest. The memory of a stony Adalind and Kelly as they both crumbled to dust in front of his caused him to miss his step but he managed to catch himself before losing his balance completely.

After coming home from Germany, things between him and Adalind weren't quite so clear. She'd told him she loved him and his own feelings were a tumultuous sea of anger, lust, mistrust, hope, and even love, although he didn't know it at the time. Nick had determined to keep the stick hidden because he didn't know what it was beyond just a stick with healing properties, other than that his Grimm ancestors felt had to be protected and kept safe, away from the seven royal families who were once allies, Neither did he know to what end those powers extended.

With Black Claw advancing their plans for wesen dominance beginning in Portland, he had wanted to be extra cautious and that meant keeping Adalind out of the loop. As a man on the cusp of something…special happening between them, no matter how scary a prospect it was, a Grimm together with a Hexenbiest, he didn't want to be so secretive, but as a Grimm, all of his instincts pushed him to do what Grimm's do best, so he lied to Adalind.

Since Bonaparte's death, Nick had naïvely expected to be reunited with Adalind but in typical fashion, their lives couldn't be that easy, with both of them trapped, Adalind in a mansion with Sean Renard and a cursed ring on her finger and Nick, a fugitive from the law. It was only just the night before that they'd resolved at least two of those problems except one, Bonaparte's ring. After his nightmare, Nick couldn't let her wear the ring a second longer. He refused to let the dead Zauberbiest control his life or have any kind of power over them. The fact that the repugnant ring was put there as some connective tissue from Adalind to Sean Renard only riled him up even more.

The very thought of Sean incensed him He couldn't understand the man. Sean had killed Bonaparte right in the middle of his loft and with one sword stroke to the back, he'd killed all of Black Claw's deadly aspirations for the world and yet he continued to hold Adalind prisoner instead of letting her go. He knew it wasn't out of any love he had for her but perhaps it was, more specifically, the love that Nick had for Adalind.

After Adalind had left the loft hardly a fortnight back, his Captain had taunted him right in the middle of his office about settling down with a Hexenbiest after he had the gall to tell Nick to his face to let Kelly and Adalind go, if he loved them. Nick never paid much attention to the Captain at the time, so vexed he'd been about Adalind's disappearance, he missed the tone with which the Captain had uttered those words, with derision and contempt, like it was a personal slight against him that Nick dared to imagine a life with Adalind Schade. It was nobody's business what Nick did with Adalind, least of all, Sean Renard's.

Nick soon made it out of the tunnel, careful not to make any noise to avoid waking Diana, whose bed was just a few feet away from the trap door leading into the tunnel. It amazed him how perceptive Adalind's not-so-little girl was and Nick knew that he'd need to be careful around her, for her mother's sake. Unfortunately for Diana, that didn't involve him kowtowing to the whims of a little girl with a power beyond comprehension who didn't have an understanding of the world in which she lived. A world that didn't include both her parents, happy and in love. Nick cringed at the thought of Adalind with Renard. He was also very grateful that the world he did live in, included Adalind waiting for him in his bed, warm and inviting. Thus, Nick made his way into his and Adalind's room and not at all surprised found her awoken.

"Hey, what time is it?" she asked still half asleep.

"It's still early, go back to sleep." He said gently as he settled the box on the bureau by the window.

"…Not without you," she said and sat up in bed, rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes.

Adalind patted the empty space beside her, calling him to bed.

"Something's clearly on your mind and I don't like waking up without you next to me…."

His lips curled up slightly because he too had learnt that he hated waking up without her by his side but those days were finally over.

"What's that?" she pointed to the item in front of him, at the metallic box.

"I was hoping we'd talk later, when the sun was up…" at least when Diana would be off to her father's he thought. "But now's as good a time as any." He said drily.

Nick made sure the door to their bedroom was properly closed before lifting the box and placing it on the bed between the two of them.

"What I'm about to tell you, Renard cannot know about it."

"Well, obviously," she said without sarcasm, dropping her voice down to above a whisper.

This time his smile was broader but then he remembered that he'd been lying to her for weeks straight so he mood sobered quickly.

"What's wrong?" Adalind's asked, her demeanour changed to match his.

"I lied." He began.

There was so much he wanted to say but the words were so jumbled up inside. Nick was never a man of many words, at least not since the day he first saw Adalind woge in the street, when everything had irrevocably changed in his life and within himself. Nick couldn't even recognise the man he was before he got his Grimm sight. Every moment, milestone, achievements as a cop, his life with Juliette, it was as though it had belonged to a complete stranger, one whose mind was so far removed from the man he'd become.

"Okay…." She said slowly, waiting on him to explain.

He watched her face, waiting for the first ripples of indignant rage, or hurt at such a betrayal but Adalind surprised him by taking his hand in hers.

"Nick, you do know I am the last person in the world to hold any secrets you have against you, right? The last time you trusted me with something, I…"

"…That wasn't your fault!" He interrupted her before she could finish.

It was true, what happened with Bonaparte wasn't her fault. When Adalind had asked him to find Diana, he should have focussed on nothing else but hindsight was twenty-twenty, if nothing else.

"It's still happened regardless. If I had it my way, I'd insist you keep whatever it is that's in this box from me but…." Using her free hand, she brushed her fingers across the side of his face. "I can see that something's eating you up. And for some reason it would be selfish of me to let your carry on your own whatever is burdening you, just because I want to lighten up my own load."

He sighed, grateful she understood.

"I found something…in Germany."

"I figured." She gave him a pensive smile. "You're not exactly hard to read. You may not talk much, but you say a lot in plenty of other ways." This time, her smile was warm and contagious.

"So you're not mad?"

"Nick, this…this relationship between us, 'complicated' just doesn't even begin to describe it, but here we are…a Grimm and a Hexenbiest."

He detected a hint of sweetness in her tone, not the spite with which Juliette and later Renard had used when referring to his relationship with Adalind. She was right, their relationship was extremely complicated but if it was worth fighting for, and it was, they'd both have to start trusting each other more, going against every instinct in them to do otherwise and not letting their history deny them this rare opportunity of being happy together, against all odds.

"Who would have thought, right?"

Nick lifted her right hand and held it to his lips, planting kisses on each one of her fingers. How was it possible to feel so deeply for this woman before him? He couldn't understand it. He felt alive just by being in her presence, almost as if nothing that came before her had ever mattered. It was a shock to his system and something so incredibly wonderful after the horror that had become his life. Nick couldn't lose her.

He dropped her hand and lifted the other so the cursed ring was between them.

"…This!" he said with such venom, it chilled Adalind.

"If I could take it off, I would." She said unhappily.

His thoughts betrayed him yet again. Nick did his best to focus on her warm, fleshy countenance and not the stoned statue in his dream.

Nick opened the box between them and pulled out the cloth-covered artefact.

"This is what I found in Germany. Maybe…maybe it's what will help us take that awful thing off your finger."

"A stick!? That's what your ancestors buried in the Black Forest?"

"I know it's not exactly impressive to look at."

"Isn't that the same cloth with the symbols that only Diana could see?"

"Yeah…this stick came wrapped in the cloth, whatever it is, it's very powerful. It saved Monroe and Eve's lives. It brought me back to life." He regretted the words the second he said them. He planned for her to never find out about Black Claw killing him but

"…How? What? What do you mean it saved you? What happened to you? And why am I only finding out about this now?" She pounced on his mistake.

"…Because I didn't want to worry you?"

"Epic fail, Nick Burkhardt."

"We can talk about that some other time."

"No, we're talking about this now."

"Adalind please…let me finish?"

"Fine." But she sounded anything but.

Adalind extended her hand towards the stick, almost touching it but Nick stayed her hand. Something told him not to let her touch it, like a warning but how, from where? He looked down at the stick and knew almost instantly he made the right choice.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. There something about this stick…I can't quite explain it. It's like I can sense it somehow even though I doesn't make any sense, not even to me. Maybe I can control it somehow…. The night we returned from the Black Forest, I was holding the stick in my hands when Monroe started falling sick and there was nothing normal about it. A wesen must have bit or scratched him while we were in German and he'd only began to feel the effects just hours later. We were desperate. All I wanted was for my friend to be okay and then suddenly he was. When Bonaparte nearly killed Eve the night Black Claw took me in, I couldn't think of anything else except for the stick and as I suspected, it healed her. I don't know how other than that it did. It did what I wanted it to do…. "

"…But then you died so explain that part to me. If you control this stick, why are you still here?"

Nick could see where Diana got that perceptive mind of hers, to see beyond the surface.

"Sometimes, I think it has a mind of its own…almost like it controls me and I'm doing what it wants…."

"Then get rid of it. There is a reason it was buried Nick and we can't afford to wait long enough to found out what that reason was. I don't like the idea of this stick controlling you or having any power over you."

"I like the idea of you wearing that ring even less."

"But you said it yourself, you don't know how it even works, whether it listens to you or is using you. Before you knew there were symbols on the cloth, Rosalee said you'd translated at least two words on that cloth, 'Miraculum' and 'Perikulosum'…this stick is obviously miraculous but it's also dangerous. You cannot use it maybe not ever again…," she said and took a cautious step backwards putting as much distance between herself and the stick as possible.

"…But what other choice do we have, to keep that thing on your finger and wait for Bonaparte to ruin our lives from the grave?"

She smiled sweetly at him.

"I am honoured. I don't remember in all of my life someone willing to do something for me just for me…."

"Maybe I am just being selfish and know I can't live without you and don't want to even try. What if you're rocking Kelly to sleep one day and that thing falls off your finger, what do I do then? You have to let me try…." he said, his voice thick with emotion.

"…Maybe if Bonaparte had left Kelly and Diana out of this, I would. It's a selfish thing to do, to let you take this risk and bind yourself to some unknown power from who knows where. I would take this ring off myself without you even using your stick if I knew the people I loved would be safe."

"…And watch you turn to stone?"

"…What? How did you…? I never told you about that."

"Apparently, you didn't have to. I dreamt it all the same." He said dismissively.

He was exhausted, both in mind and body and he needed a win, they both did. It seemed unfair for them to finally find one another and yet find no rest.

"Bonaparte could have killed me but he didn't. Nick, I've never told you this before but then again I was blinded by my own selfish ambitions for years and couldn't see clearly but magic, especially when it's as powerful as you say this stick wields cannot not be trifled with lightly, and certainly not without some form of consequence, even Bonaparte knew that. There is another way, there has to be."

She was making sense but all Nick could think about was freeing her from Bonaparte's curse there and then. He would deal with the consequences of using the stick later as long as he was certain Bonaparte couldn't hurt her or their children ever again. His heart and his head were at war, pulling in different directions.

"I hate this ring more than I have hated anything in this world, what it means for my children, what it represents. When Sean introduced me in front of the world as the 'love of his life and mother of his "children"' I wanted to claw his eyes out but to keep them…and you safe, I had to smile like a good little Black Claw pawn in their game. He told me we had to find a way to make our new situation 'work', like the last few years never happened, claiming we had some 'good times' together."

"That bastard." Nick fumed.

"I wanted to set his blood on fire, literally, and watch him cook from the inside out…."

It shouldn't have surprised him, hearing about the Captain nearly forcing himself on Adalind. Rather, it had set Nick's blood on fire instead and to think he'd gone easy on the Captain when they'd tricked him and the press and had "him" give up on becoming the next Mayor of Portland with little explanation or ramifications past their scuffle on his roof. Nick should have dealt with him more decisively. Maybe then, the curse would be broken, if Renard ended up dead in a dark alleyway somewhere in the city since the ring had joined Adalind's fate to him as per Bonaparte's dastardly plans. If Nick had acted like the Grimm's of old and dealt with his enemies accordingly, Adalind would be free. The thought wasn't at all unwelcome, it appeased him a little but not enough to put him at ease.

"…But there was too much at stake, I could deal with that humiliation. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but this ring. I couldn't risk my children and I cannot risk you in return."

It was true, the stick was simply too much of an unknown and the hold it had over him actually scared him more than he cared to admit.

"We'll find another way," he resigned himself but not willingly and dropped the stick back into its box.

Adalind flung herself into his arms and kissed him in earnest. "As long as you're safe, that's all that matters. We'll find another way." She assured him, hopefully.

He only wished he felt the same. The stick may be his one and only chance….

Nick retuned the box into its hiding place in the wall down in the tunnel. Adalind refused to have it anywhere near them and with Diana now living with them, it was an added risk they couldn't afford, not with Sean an unwelcome permanent fixture in their lives. They couldn't chance Diana sharing with her father any details about what happened within their four walls, least of all discovering the existence of the Grimm treasure that had played such a significant part of their past, forging the violent path that ultimately led Nick and Adalind finding one another in the most unconventional way imaginable. The stick was too powerful and to a half Zauberbiest that sought power, it was too irresistible to ignore. For years, Nick mistakenly believed power no longer drove his Captain's actions until one night he came home and found Adalind's 'Dear John' letter and later watched helpless as Sean Renard claim Adalind as his for nothing more than a few votes that would give him the city of Portland.

Too much was at stake.

When he returned to bed, Adalind was waiting for him still. She welcomed him into her arms and for a moment, he was happy to forget all about Bonaparte, Sean Renard, the ring and even the stick and get lost in her embrace, warm and sweet.

"Thank you." She said in the dark after a moment.

"…But I didn't do anything."

"Trust me, you did plenty enough." She kissed him again.

When she deepened their kiss, he felt familiar warmth begin to ebb from his lower half and it built in intensity. Adalind pushed him onto his back.

"Diana…?" he managed to breathe as she continued unabated.

"I promise to not scream…too loudly if you think you can handle it." She said playfully.

Adalind's hand slid past his torso and further south. He should stop her, he thought but he was past the point of return when he felt her take him in her hand.

"Yyessss…." He kissed her back, his whole body completely under her spell and whatever consequences that were sure to follow, he welcomed them heartily.

Nick quickly swivelled to his side and pinned Adalind beneath his body, she let out a breathy squeak before his mouth swallowed up the rest of her cries of pleasure.


	5. The Seven Year Itch - Part 1

Going back to work has been interesting to say the least. Apart from the warm reception he got from his fellow officers for successfully pulling off an 'undercover operation' against Black Claw leader Conrad Bonaparte for his 'attack' on the North Precinct, his relationship with his Captain, professional or otherwise, grew colder. The line was firmly drawn on the sand. Everything Nick did as a detective had to be above board, following procedure down to the letter and if being a Grimm overruled following the rules, he had to make sure to cover all of his bases so as not to give Renard any leverage he could use against him in their renewed bitter rivalry.

Nick admitted to taking a certain amount of pleasure in humbling his Captain after the hell he'd put Nick through when Black Claw exposed him for the selfish, power hungry bastard he'd always been, something Nick had willingly overlooked because Sean Renard had him believe they were fighting on the same side. Nick had been naïve, foolish to believe a man driven by a lust for power could ever change but no more. The blinders were finally off and whatever respect Sean Renard hoped to keep as a man, he'd sooner find it down in the sewers, he was lucky Nick still offered him the respect of a police Captain and even that was hanging by the thinnest of threads possible.

"You…in my office…now!" Renard grunted as he marched past Nick's desk.

It was apparent the Captain was still smarting from recent events and so throwing his weight around was his way of coping. Nick wasn't in the mood of being ordered around like a wayward pup. He was of the mind of sitting this pending confrontation out and let Renard stew alone in the mess that he had created for all of them but Nick found himself heading towards his Captain's office. He shut the door behind him as he was used to doing whenever he was in the Captain's office.

"I'm still waiting for your report about the North Precinct," said the Captain.

"…And you will have it when I get to it. Right now, I'm still dealing with real cases that piled up on my desk while I was away." Nick said as if he just returned from taking official leave.

"That's not my problem. My superiors are breathing done my neck about what happened that night."

"Here's a novel idea, tell them the truth. That you and your Black Claw friends from the North Precinct tried to kill me and my friends that night. I'm sure they'll understand." Nick said with a hint of sarcasm.

"You think you're smart, that you've somehow beaten me and Black Claw but you still have no idea of the world you live in Nick and you've dragged my daughter into…"

"…Your mess and I'm the one cleaning up after you. If you truly cared for Diana, you wouldn't have sided with the people who wanted to use her and using Adalind to control her."

Sean Renard burst into laughter. "Yeah…Adalind," drawled Renard as he took a seat behind his desk.

Nick didn't like that one bit, Renard moving to establish his authority between them once more as Nick was forced to stand and he liked the Captain's tone as he called out Adalind's name even less.

"It's amazing how deep your delusion of Adalind runs."

"Let me stop you right there…" Nick took a forceful step towards his Captain but Renard ignored him.

"Clearly you've been taken in by her charms and believe me I know how alluring she can be when she puts her mind to it. You know all too well what I'm talking about and I had such high hopes for you, a Grimm. What a disappointment you've turned out to be. I thought you had better sense than that, that by now you'd be over playing house with that witch…"

"Back off!" Nick slammed his fist on the desk and Renard's sinister grin grew wider.

It was a mistake. He knew it the moment he did it. Renard had been baiting him and Nick walked foolishly into the trap.

"You're a bastard." Nick said, stating the obvious.

"Let me do you a favour since you're too whipped to sniff the coffee. Adalind is uh…experienced, I'd even say she's over qualified. I know her better than anyone else alive. We are alike her and I. I know what she likes, how she likes it and how to make her beg for more…" Renard said, taunting Nick.

He paused, watching Nick intently and waiting for a repeat of their fight in that very same office that led to Nick's arrest on the night of Bonaparte's death. And Nick wanted to beat the living daylights out of him but his feet remained planted on the opposite side of Renard's desk, his hands, balled into fists on his sides.

"She has never been above using her body to get what she wants and you're the flavour of the week. This thing between you two, it's a joke and you're going to be left looking like the fool you are. You think she's in love with you, she's a Hexenbiest for crying out loud. She uses people for kicks and she used you, played you like a fiddle the day she came into my office pregnant with your baby."

"Right…I see. I know what you're doing or trying to do. It won't work." He said calmly as he fiercely kept the fury from his voice.

"…Because you've convinced yourself that a Grimm and a Hexenbiest can fall in love and live happily ever after?"

"…Because I have what you don't. It burns you up inside that she actually loves me and you're not even a fading blip in the background. It's eating you up that I have the life you desperately crave. Adalind is finally free to live the life she wants and is happier for it and you're as equally miserable and alone. You're a coward that thinks power will keep you warm at night and coming after Adalind when it's me you really want. Well, here I am and be a man!" Nick spat at him.

Renard just looked up at Nick but that arrogant sheen had begun to wear off.

"You and your friends nearly destroyed this city but the real tragedy here is Diana is stuck with the likes of you for a father. You knew Meisner had her and you did nothing to look for her but the second Black Claw dangled a juicy carrot in front of suddenly you're father of the year?"

"Careful Burkhardt, you forget who you're talking to."

"You have forget yourself, Sean. You forget who truly calls the shots around here, like the fact that you're still sitting behind that desk because I say so. Calling yourself Captain has never changed the natural order between us…"

Then Renard woged and flinched.

The two men looked at each other for a moment before Nick took another intimidating step closer. No one would have caught the tiny shift in Renard's posture but Nick had excellent eyesight. Good, Nick thought.

"I gave you a chance before but my patience has run out. And in case I wasn't being clear before, step out of line one more time and I will happily forget I wear this badge for a living and we can settle our differences once and for all, Grimm to Zauberbiest. Unless you have something else to add…?" Nick waited while staring down his Captain.

"I'm going back to my work," he said and walked out without being dismissed when he realised Renard had nothing more to say.

However, Nick didn't return to his desk. Instead he made an angry beeline for the restroom, nearly running down Hank, who'd just exited the restroom.

"Hey, take it easy," joked Hank before seeing the deadly glint in Nick's eye. "What happened?" He asked his friend much more seriously.

"One of these days I'm going to kill him," Nick gritted through his teeth as both men disappeared from public view behind the closed door, he was happy to know there was no one else in there with them before punching one of the doors sending it crashing against the flimsy partition on the side, with a fist indentation where Nick made contact. Yes, he was furious.

"…Renard?"

"As if it could be anyone else…."

"What did he do?"

"It's more like what I didn't do and should have done long ago when I had the chance."

His whole body was tense, like a string pulled too tight and about to snap. He punched another door into the cubicle next to the first victim of his rage.

"I don't understand. Nope, I take that back. I do understand but you have to tell me what happened so I can help you so you don't destroy any more state property."

"You can't help me Hank."

"Try me. How long have I been your friend and partner? You know I'm an excellent listener, I'm practically your therapist, I'm an expect at wheedling out information, even from you so you may as well tell me."

It wasn't that he didn't want to tell his friend about what transpired in Renard's office, he really didn't. Adalind was still such a sore subject for Hank despite him doing his absolute best to forget what happened a few years ago. Hank had put aside his animosity towards Adalind for Nick's sake and that of his son and things between them were finally good. Nick didn't want to ruin that by repeating Renard's disgusting words and opening up old wounds. It was hard enough hearing about how Adalind was using him or worse how she "liked it", Nick already knew and on more than one occasion she'd begged him for more and Nick was always happy to oblige and finding his own sweet release in her arms in return. He felt loved, not used.

Renard was wrong, he didn't know Adalind, not even half as much as he claimed but why couldn't he move past those vile words, words than meant nothing when Nick had everything neither of them could ever dream? Adalind had changed so much since they had Kelly and Nick was not so vain as to credit himself for that change; that honour belonged to both her children. He was just a spectator on the side-lines of her life and ultimately the one that got to reap the rewards of those changes. Perhaps it wasn't so much as what Renards said but what he implied, that the woman he came home to was a temporary façade forced upon her by space and time.

"Let's get out of here. We can grab coffee and find a much healthier way to let out your anger and frustration at the Captain." Hank reasoned with him.

Nick wasn't sure it was a good idea but anything was better than staying there and staring at Renard's mug from across his desk all day.

They took their seats at the counter by the door and ordered two black coffees with no sugar and waited until the waitress moved away before Hank turned to him.

"Okay, so are you finally going to tell me what happened this morning to get you so worked up?" Hank asked. "I know it has to do with the Captain but there's something else that's got you acting like this and I think I know what it is…. What, are you really going to make me say it? Adalind."

Nick tensed immediately at the sound of her name.

"Now that, we got that out of the way, you have to give me the details."

"Hank…."

"No, I'm your partner and friend; I wouldn't be much of those if I simply let you implode without at least trying to pull you from the edge."

"It's not that simple." He said, trying to steer his friend away from the subject that's been plaguing him since they left the station but Hank was like a dog with a bone, it's why they made such a great team.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Nick asked him.

"Of course not." Hank said without hesitation.

"Do you think I'm an idiot for falling for Adalind?"

Hank twitched but he kept his composure. "It doesn't matter what I think," he finally said after a short while. "She loves you, that much is clear. Is that what you and the Captain were talking about this morning? Whatever the Captain told you, it's a lie. You have him cornered and that's not his favourite place to be on any given day. He's desperate and like a cornered dog he's not out for the count just yet, it just means the next time he bites, it will be vicious and he it looks like he found his mark but you need to be smarter than that."

"You said it yourself; Adalind loves me, at least this new Adalind but something the Captain said has been gnawing at me since. Adalind has changed so much in the last year and I'm just wondering if the old Adalind isn't lurking somewhere deep inside waiting to come out. She's been desperate to keep that part of herself bottled up, not using her powers or woging unless she absolutely has to but…. We've been living in our own little bubble since Kelly's birth and with her living with Renard…"

"You're worried that he's managed to seduce her back to the dark side, to his side?"

Nick huffed but he couldn't help it, the seed of doubt was planted.

"Before my mother died, we talked once about Adalind. She and Diana were living in the middle of nowhere and she was telling me of Diana's progress but then she started talking about regrets, her leaving me as a child and her taking another child from its mother. Apparently that never sat well with my mother because she knew Adalind loved Diana but my mother did what she felt was right at the time. I realise now that my mother was talking and the old Adalind, an Adalind capable of great and consuming love, an Adalind that did unspeakable things for one child and sacrificed herself for another. She loves her children, nothing is more abundantly clear. She would do anything for them. Am I crazy for being worried that one of these days I won't be enough for her? When she left, Hank, I nearly went crazy. I wanted to tear this city apart to find Kelly…to find her."

"…But she came back didn't she? So stop beating yourself up about what Renard said or what could have been or should have been. You and Adalind are together now and happy. The Captain was just trying to rile you up, don't give him the satisfaction of winning." Hank said.

"You know he almost forced himself on her, when she was still at the mansion," he said gruffly, as he balled his fists in anger that was quickly building up on the inside.

"Wow…."

"Luckily she had her powers and made sure he knew never to try that stunt again."

"Good…or isn't it?" Hank asked when he saw his friend's face grow darker.

"Then there's this ring that she can never take off that ties her to him, as if Diana wasn't enough to bind them together for life."

He stopped talking, debating over whether to keep talking or let it go. The past was slowly creeping up on Nick and choking him. Perhaps he was a fool like Renard said. Adalind and Hank…but there was nothing between them other than Renard pulling her strings. He could say the same about Adalind and Renard. How could he tell his friend that every time he looked at that ring, it was as though Renard was right there with them? Or that after they made love the night before, he'd been in heaven until he felt the cold, sharp gem brush against his skin and his mood had soured immediately. It took Adalind nuzzling the crook of his neck as she snuggled deeper into his side to force all thoughts of Renard out of his mind. Yes, he really hated that ring and with every fibre of his being and to be reminded of Adalind and Renard's past sexual history was already preying on a frayed mind.

"Nick…?" Hank called him out of his darkening thoughts.

"I don't know how many times I have wanted to rip it off her finger, to rip him from our lives permanently and today…he was so smug, sure of himself. He pushed me too far, for a second I considered killing him right there. He woged. I don't think he wanted to but he couldn't help himself, like all these other wesen when they see me for the first time. I saw the fear of a Grimm in his eyes and I liked it. I used that to remind him of how things truly are between us."

"So you threatened him…as a Grimm?"

"I was angry. What can I say?"

"I would have loved to have witnessed that. How did he take it?"

And for the first time Nick allowed himself to smile.

"I think I was wrong, years ago when I decided to work with Renard instead of dealing with him as my ancestors would have. I gave him a chance because I wanted to believe that he wasn't really a bad guy. I was wrong…I was wrong. And to think that this city would have burnt because of him and his selfish ambitions, Adalind now has to live in fear of something horrible happening to her children should she take that damned ring off. Bonaparte gave her that ring and tied Adalind and Renard together and I hate it. I hate that I can't help her."

"I'm really sorry man."

"Yeah…."

They sat in silence for what seemed like forever before Nick spoke.

"And I had this crazy thought of using the stick."

"What are you talking about?"

"I suggested to Adalind we use the stick to try and take the ring off. I can't rest easy until I know that she and the kids are safe from whatever spell Bonaparte cast on that thing."

"Is that wise, using the stick I mean?"

"Well Adalind shut me down so…."

"Then why am I still worried about this. From where I am sitting using that stick like it's a cure for everything seems…I don't know…dangerous."

"It did save my life Hank." Nick said hesitantly.

Suddenly the air around him changed as if it was getting thinner the more he tried to breath. And out of nowhere he didn't want to talk about the stick but he still wanted Hank to know. They were friends and partners and partners were supposed to know everything about each other. The last time he kept something important from Hank, the truth about being a Grimm, it almost destroyed him and could have destroyed their relationship but the bond between them was stronger than that. If he could share things as personal as that, what's a little information around a mysterious stick?

"Not that I'm not grateful but Nick, surely you know there's something strange where that stick is concerned."

"I know but what if it can break the curse on the ring if it can bring people back from the dead? I'm pretty sure I was dead. Well, you were there. You should know. I was shot."

"Look, I know you think you were shot, but maybe it was something else."

"I felt the bullets, Hank. I…I went down. I knew I was dying. I could feel it. And then I wasn't. I mean, you saw what happened with Eve." He sighed, seeing the scepticism on Hank's face.

"I can't explain anything that's been going on."

He hesitated, not sure if he should tell Hank everything but it was already too late to turn back, he thought, as more air choked out of his lungs. Nick wondered but shook his head slightly, it seemed impossible to imagine that the discomfort he felt was directly related to him sharing with Hank things he himself was wary to confront alone.

"I keep thinking I need to be carrying that stick." He said nervously.

"Are you?"

"No. But it's like…you get used to carrying your weapon, and when you don't have it, you feel like you're missing a piece of yourself."

"I know, but we have a license for that."

"I try to stop thinking about it, but it's not working out so well."

It's almost as though everywhere he turns, he finds a reason to use it, like Adalind's ring.

"Where is it? I put it back in the tunnel."

"Don't you think you should put it someplace a little further out?"

"No, I want to understand it. I want to know where it came from. I want to know why the men who found it buried it and I want to know what's written on that cloth that's wrapped around it."

"Sometimes we can want too much. And what if we found out and wish we hadn't? Maybe that's why it's buried."

"Then why didn't they just destroy it? You sound like Adalind, she said nearly the exact same thing before I left for Germany." He said, but with difficulty. His palms were sweating profusely and the increasing shortness of breath was alarming but Nick said nothing to Hank, not wanting to give him any more reason than he already had to say anything more against the stick.

"Maybe they tried and they couldn't. I'm with Adalind on this one. We are dealing with stuff that may not have an explanation we can understand."

He knew that Hank, Adalind, even Eve were right but the stick didn't keep him from feeling the way he did, like he was connected to it somehow and he could do some good with it. Fortunately for him, Hank's phone rang, it was Wu and Nick was suddenly able to breathe normally again. They had a body and all talks of Renard, the stick were shelved, it was too much to hope that it would be indefinitely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my attempt at writing a jealous Nick, unfortunately I don’t think I hit the mark dead centre. I was aiming for fun jealous Nick and ended up with something else completely. The first draft of the confrontation with Renard was a lot more vicious than this one and I had both characters hit below the belt in a way I don’t think they could have recovered. I only changed it because later these two are supposed to put their differences aside for the sake of their children. Please enjoy and don’t be shy with the reviews.


	6. The Seven Year Itch - Part 2

"Are you really okay with this?" Nick asked her as she pulled the covers so he could join her.

"I want to," she replied softly and heard the confusion in his sigh as he turned off the remaining light in their bedroom.

Adalind wasn't sure whether she was telling the truth or not but ever since she found Eve down in the tunnels, in the shape she was in, it was safe to say she wasn't acting quite herself. Juliette…Eve or whatever name she chose to go by, Adalind couldn't help feeling a little responsible for the state Eve found herself in. Adalind couldn't help feeling like she'd somehow stolen what belonged to another, Nick…Kelly…no, never Kelly. Kelly was hers in every sense of the word and Adalind would die a million deaths before she'd let someone take him from her no matter how terrible she felt about the awful things she did in the past.

Adalind was lost in her thoughts when she felt Nick's arm curl around her waist, edging her closer to him.

"You know you don't have to. You don't have to prove anything to me."

"I'm not, not really. I just feel…I don't know." It was her turn to sigh but in resignation.

Everything was so perfect between them and at the same time so upside down. She loved Nick with everything in her. She had told him thrice. The first time was on the night they made love for the first time as Adalind and Nick and not "Juliette" and Nick. The last time was when she left in the cover of darkness when Black Claw threatened him and Kelly. Although he had never said those three little words back to her except in her dreams, she felt it every time he held her in his arms, tasted it in his kisses, she saw it in his eyes when she'd catch him watching her when he thought she wasn't paying attention. She'd never known such passion and tenderness at the same time.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked after she'd been quiet for several minutes.

"You…me…you and me and how we got here."

"…And Eve, how does she factor into this?"

"She doesn't." She said unconvincingly.

Nick actually snorted. "So you're not trying to make up for the past?" he asked her, there was no accusation in his tone.

"Maybe a little…okay a lot. Sometimes I wonder how you can look at me." She thought out loud.

"Easy, like this" he said as he rolled her in the dark so they were face to face and she could just make out his facial features in the near total darkness.

Nick leaned down so their noses touched and she felt his warm breath against her lips. Adalind bit her lower lip in anticipation. His eyes had gone almost black, as his irises had dilated so much her skin began to grow warm. Nick took possession of her mouth, rendering her breathless and weak with desire, sadly they couldn't go no further, not with her Diana a few feet away and certainly not with Eve just outside their bedroom door. Perhaps she'd been a little hasty inviting her to stay until she was strong enough to return to wherever it is she came from, she thought regretfully as Nick turned her again so she could be his little spoon as he kissed the sensitive spot on her neck.

"Did I ever tell you when I found out about your powers returning?"

"Come to think of it, no."

"I was meeting with Eve about Black Claw and how the Captain was in bed with them literally when she warned me about your powers returning."

"Ah, good old Eve," Adalind said scornfully. "I can't say I'm surprised. It's probably after she threatened me." Adalind added without thinking and regretted it immediately.

"Wait, she threatened you, when? And why am I only finding out about this now?" Nick asked suddenly, raising himself so he could see her face but Adalind looked straight ahead, wishing she could rewind the last two minutes.

The old, spiteful Adalind was making an impromptu comeback at the worst possible time. Adalind knew, somehow that the woman currently sleeping outside her bedroom door wasn't the same robotic, and deadly Hexenbiest that reduced her to a quivering mess if she ever hurt Nick. And even though Adalind had no intension of hurting Nick, she ended up doing just that when she left him for Black Claw, a decision she knew she would live to regret for a very long time.

"Forget I said anything." She retracted.

"That's kind of hard to do…"

"Please Nick. It doesn't matter now anyway, not with everything that has happened with the stick." She pleaded with him.

"Adalind…."

She felt his fingers on her chin turn her head so she could see him, her eyes now better adjusted to the darkness around them and she could clearly see the worry in his eyes.

"Nick, she's not the same Hexenbiest anymore and neither am I, or least I hope I'm not. I didn't have some stick magic away all of my horrible traits."

"No, you did that all on your own."

She thought she detected a hint of pride in his voice but she didn't know how to respond to it. He seemed to do that a lot lately, say things like that, that sparked an inferno of emotion that she could drown in at the same time. It was crazy, that the man she'd hated so fiercely once upon a time was now the greatest love of her life.

"It was Rosalee that told me. I remember being angry…"

"Of course you were." She said sarcastically, much to her shame.

Adalind turned away from him as her eyes threatene to betray her even more by watering against her will. Why couldn't she learn to keep her mouth shut? Sometimes, she could ruin a good thing without any effort at all but Nick wasn't offended.

"Would you let me finish. Yes, I was angry but I was also confused. Looking back, I realise now that I was also hurt that you didn't trust me. I mean I didn't know it at the time, I was still so shocked from what I had heard. I didn't know how to react but Rosalee told me to wait…for you to come to me when you were ready."

"I really did want to tell you, I just didn't know how." Adalind said apologetically, unable to look him in the eye. Although Nick wasn't being accusatory, Adalind's mistakes had a way of creeping up on her, no matter how hard she tried to avoid them.

"Addie, I know." He said with affection, hugging her tightly against him.

Addie? He'd never called her that before, she thought much more calmly.

"I remember hanging on every word you said, waiting…hoping. Instead you'd told me about your job interview. I almost blurted it out right there and there that I knew you were a full Hexenbiest again but Rosalee's words kept ringing in my head and I had been through this before…."

"…With Juliette?" She asked cautiously.

She realised that she was dredging up things that he perhaps wasn't ready to reveal. Talking about their past was always such a minefield for them, uncertain about what was safe and what wasn't. Some days, they expertly navigated around all the heavy stuff and on some other, they were completely open about their situation but it didn't seem like now was the time for those times considering their guest but it was hard not to bring up Juliette when they were all so intertwined.

"…Yes and I didn't want to make the same mistakes again. It didn't end well last time I acted rashly. So I waited, hoping that that one day…soon…you would tell me and we'd finally be able to deal with it, together."

"But I didn't. I remember that night, that was before…oh no, are you telling me when I took you bed that one time, you already knew what I was?" Adalind said suddenly embarrassed because she remembered how she had propositioned Nick.

She had missed him like crazy. They had grown distant with her work and now she knew it was also because of her powers returning. Adalind had craved the feel of him inside of her, had she known that he was aware of the truth at the time she would have…she didn't know what she would have done, but she certainly wouldn't have been so bold as to ask Nick to take her. She couldn't see his face right then but she heard the upward curl of his lips. He was clearly amused by her apparent mortification over that night of passion.

"You didn't take me anywhere. I came well on my own. It was my choice. And you made it worth my while." He grinned before planting a fresh kiss across her temple.

That certainly put things into a new perspective. She remembered that night vividly, the hunger in Nick's eyes, like every other time Nick had made love to her since. She still couldn't believe that he'd known all along and yet he still came to her. The thought was thrilling but also humbling in a way she didn't expect.

"What I am trying to tell you is that between you and me, I have made my choices, great ones as well as my fair share of mistakes, like Diana. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of the pain I cause you because I didn't know any better and I am sorry. We are all adults here, each responsible for the hurt and pain of the past. It's not fair to you, I mean you don't have to carry the weight of our past alone, not anymore." He said while looking at the door to where Eve, lay sleeping.

Our past.

That was something that she still hadn't gotten used to, that they were no longer Nick or Adalind separate but Nick and Adalind as one even with something as dark as their past.

"We're two peas in a pod, you and me, the strangest pair since…ever, probably."

"…You think?" She asked rhetorically.

Adalind was oddly ecstatic that they even had the same thought, maybe before long, they could finish each other's sentences, she thought with a peculiar lightness of heart.

"I know so. A Grimm and a Hexenbiest, it doesn't get any more unique than that." He said and kissed her neck as his hand explored many other places out of the reach of his lips, causing her to giggle like a school girl.

"Nick Burkh…stop…we're going…to…mmm…"

"Do you really want me to stop?" he teased.

"Yes…no…yes! We're a bit crowded in here, meaning the loft."

"Adalind Schade I have never known you to be a prude."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," she said breathlessly as she did her best to get her hormones back in check.

This was definitely not the time to be frisky, not even a little bit. They both knew that but Nick was pushing the boundaries of her control. After a moment and with better composure, she turned and faced him. They laid there just looking into each other's eyes before Nick's hand found its way once more, sneaking underneath her night shirt and cupped her breasts. Adalind closed her eyes as Nick applied a little pressure and pulling at her erect nipples, causing electricity to shoot through her whole body before she reluctantly pulled him away and something flickered in his eyes, disappointment.

"You wound me," he said a touch too melodramatic, which surprised her in a good way.

"I am sorry, Gorgeous…."

"Maybe we should get a bigger place with plenty of rooms…and privacy…."

"I think all you want is just a happy ending…" she intoned.

"…Not just for me,"

He rolled over her, pinning her down under him and Adalind opened her legs without thinking, feeling the length of him before quickly snapping her ankles back together, squirming as far from Nick as possible but the bed wasn't big enough to evade him completely, his big hands were all over her.

"Nick!" she yelped under her breath, now dangerously over the edge, one more push from him, she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop, let alone want him to stop.

"Another time I guess," he relented with a suppressed laugh.

This Nick was definitely a revelation to her. He was a little playful on the naughty side and not the stern, protective but too serious Nick whose primary objective is not to have fun. She loved that Nick completely but it was nice to see a new side of him.

Adalind huffed with feigned indignation, much to Nick's delight. He held out his arms in resignation. She waited another second just to be sure he meant it before wiggling back into his open arms.

"Another time…." He promised.

Another time, she thought and went to sleep, dreaming of such a time.


	7. The Son Also Rises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the late update, real life got in the way but this is a long chapter so I hope that at least makes up for me taking so long between the last one and this chapter. I actually struggled with what to write. When I started this story (it's really a series of ficlets put together) I wanted to fill in the gaps, to write stuff that was alluded to on the show that we never saw. And if I remain true to that original premise, that means I now have maybe two more chapters to go after this update. I chose to write about the "dream" Nick had, but I couldn't write a simple dream about Zerstörer, so I created a "what if" scenario. I apologise in advance for the shoddy editing/typos. I was so caught up in writing this that making time to edit fell by the way side, as the chapter got longer and longer and longer. I do hope you enjoy it.

They were dead, his friends…Adalind, all dead.

And suddenly she wasn't anymore because Nick made a deal with the devil. What choice did he have? He reasoned with himself. The skull faced demon only wanted the stick and Nick wanted his family back, so really there was no choice to be made as he held Adalind's warm body against his, relieved to hear the faint beating of her hear once more. When she came to, she wanted to know what had happened, if they'd beaten the demon. He couldn't lie to her, not with his friends still lying lifeless only a few feet away from them. The demon would not bring them back, that wasn't part of the deal, the small print in wording, or lack thereof.

The skull faced demon was nowhere in sight.

Nick carried a weakened Adalind back into the cabin where a confused Diana and distressed Kelly waited alone. He'd already moved Trubel's body. He lowered Adalind gently onto the bed, covering her shivering body with as many blankets as he could find, all the while asking him questions he didn't have any answers.

"Why was everyone dead? How was she alive?" She asked as she picked the partially dried blood down her jacket, the gaping hole, a tell-tale sign of what had happened and somehow undone after a matter of a minutes…hours…eternity.

He explained as best as he could without getting into details, promising to give her the full story once he was done and that he would never elaborate. However, Adalind was no fool. He saw the anguish on her face, maybe if he brought her children to her, it would calm her to have them close. He hoped it would abate the panic he saw quickly rising in her eyes. To what nightmare did she awake to find herself? He felt someone tugging at the hem of his jacket and turned. It was Diana.

"Where's my Daddy?" she asked him, looking lost, frightened and the child he sometimes forgot she was because of all the power she possessed.

He didn't know what to tell her. He immediately scooped her up into his arms and hugged her as tightly as he dared, planting a gentle kiss on her head and told her how her "Daddy" was gone, "But your Mommy isn't. She's here; we're both here for you." He added immediately, as he turned back to Adalind.

"Come to Mommy, Diana."

Nick lowered Diana into Adalind's open arms as eyed with tear stained eyes and a million questions he couldn't answer. It appeared as though Diana had no recollection of the events that took place outside the cabin, even though she was at the centre of it all. Nick was only grateful Kelly was too young to remember what happened that night, for this horror to ever affect him in anyway, however, it did hurt to realise he'd grow up without knowing the people that Nick regarded as family, people who saved his life on more than one occasion.

The following hours were the most harrowing of Nick's life, digging four graves, two of which were side by side at the back of the cabin for his friends, Monroe, Rosalee, the other for Trubel and for Renard spread further apart randomly. He couldn't call the authorities, not after what happened at the Precinct. Nick was certain that he was already a person of interest, being the only survivor of the massacre and to have to explain how or why his friends died, including his police Captain, it was a risk he couldn't afford to take, not so soon after reuniting with his family. He wanted to take his family and flee Portland if he wanted to keep his family. He also realised he couldn't go back for Wu, Hank and Eve. He also realised that after that day, Nick Burkhardt, he too, may as well be dead alongside his friends, he couldn't go back to his life, as he knew it. Little did he know that he was half-right, the world as Nick knew was changed.

By mid-morning four inconspicuous ground heaps and a few rocks were the only remembrance left of those he lost, and then he got a strange call from the least expected source, Bud. Through him, Nick learnt about aftermath of the massacre at the Precinct, apparently the Department moved a lot quicker than he could have expected because, according to Bud, the alleged culprits were already apprehended, a local gang affiliated with Black Claw, the same gang that supposedly "…attacked the North Precinct at Conrad Bonaparte's command. They are calling you a hero," said Bud with agitated excitement.

It didn't make sense. From where he stood, he should have been a prime suspect. The official word, was that Nick had fought valiantly against a vicious attack on his precinct and sustained a heavy blow to the head that rendered him unconscious, fooling the assailants into thinking they'd killed him along with his colleagues. In confusion, Detective Burkhardt wandered away from the precinct to parts unknown.

"That's what everyone is saying."

"That's not what happened." He tried explaining to Bud.

He told the Eisbiber as much as he could remember about the skull-faced demon, what happened to his friends, everything except where he was but it didn't seem as though Bud believed him. Nick wasn't sure he'd believe him either if he were on the other end of the conversation. It all sounded too fantastical to be real.

"They are looking for you." Bud added.

"I'm sure it's so they can arrest me for."

"You do what you feel you have to, Nick." I understand.

No he didn't.

Nick waited a several more days, scouring every radio station that had news about mass the killings to hit the city of Portland. Moreover, he couldn't believe it but Bud had been telling him the truth, He wasn't a wanted fugitive like before. According to the reports, the city was already knee deep in putting itself back together again after such a tragedy. They had a new-old mayor elect, Central Precinct had a new Captain after the last one took a "permanent sabbatical".

"Are you sure it's safe to go back?" Adalind had asked him after he brought up the subject of going home.

In his life, he never dreamed he'd miss that utilitarian loft but it was their real home, their fome.

"We can't stay here forever. I've already been to the city at least more than once already and, I can't believe it either but everything is as Bud said. We can go home."

"It's not that I don't trust Bud, but I feel like something is off somehow, like something's shifted out of place but I can't put my finger on it." She said.

"I know. I sense it too…." He said with a heavy sense of foreboding hanging between them.

It didn't take long to notice what was off in Portland after returning to the fome. Getting a second "hero's welcome" at his precinct with faces he'd never seen a day in his life, was even more unsettling when meeting his new Captain, Fletcher Mater. Everyone treated Nick as though they were he was their best friend yet they were strangers to him but not the Captain. It was all so strange because Nick had never met Fletcher Mater but there was something familiar about him, his gait, his drawling speech, how his eyes would glint every time his face broke into a sneering grin, like someone who got everything he wanted and was lauding it over Nick.

It was him. Nick didn't know how it knew it only that the skull-faced man was now very much 6'2", blond haired-grey eyed human. Nick's blood ran cold as they shook hands.

"You…." Nick said, neither a question nor a statement.

"Yes, after our little exchange, I couldn't very well go back, now could I?" Said Mater.

"I gave the stick. What more do you want?"

"Nothing you can give me, I can assure. Do not fret yourself Decapitare. We are not enemies, you and I."

"Why do I get the feeling you actually mean the opposite?"

Someone knocked on the door.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but we have two bodies…." said an officer with a nose that looked more like a pig snout.

"That will be all Detective, it's time to get back to work," relayed the new Captain which only made Nick even more uncomfortable. He wasn't done talking but he knew a hint when he heard one and there were two murders to investigate and a killer to catch.

The case was a lot more taxing than he'd imagined. He was assigned a wet behind the ears new partner he didn't want. The bodies were so ravaged he couldn't tell what had killed them, whether it was wesen or some sadistic person with a penchant for the macabre and lots of blood spatter added for good measure. He missed Hank, Wu, Trubel, Monroe and Rosalee, even Eve. His first day back couldn't have been worse than imaginable but the absence of his friends sure made it the worst. He was beyond exhausted by the time he made it home to Adalind and the kids and was just looking forward to the only familiar thing left in the world, his family.

The loft was dimly lit; the kids must have been asleep. He entered his bedroom and found Adalind rocking their son to sleep while humming her favourite lullaby, he back towards the door. He decided to sneak a surprise hug without her and looped his hands around her waist.

"Argh…how I missed this all day," he said, hugging her tighter against his chest.

"We missed you too,' she said but he heard the familiar sound of knuckles popping as she spoke telling him she was woged.

He leaned back and saw that her normally glowing blonde hair was now the colour of ash. Adalind turned to face him and he immediately wondered if there was something wrong and asked.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No, why do you ask?"

"…Because you're woged." He told her, lifting her hair between them so she could see for herself.

"Oh…I guess I am," she tilted her head slightly and her face returned to normal.

"Are you saying you didn't know you were woged this whole time? Has that ever happened before?"

"Not that I remember, maybe when I was younger and was still learning to control it but that was a long time ago." She said as she put Kelly in his crib.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're not coming down with flu or anything?"

"Sweetie, if I had flu, you'd know," she teased and kissed him gently. "Are you okay?" She turned interrogation on him, leading him to sit on the edge of their bed.

"Honestly, I don't know. I miss our friends. I work with people I don't know and the new Captain…." He wasn't sure he should tell her about the demon now turned human.

"The Captain…?"

"The thing that killed all of our friends, he's my new Captain."

"What?!" she gasped aloud.

"Yeah and he didn't look anything like the monster."

"But how? Nick this doesn't sound good at all."

"I know."

"Maybe we should have left Portland, after everything, like you suggested. It doesn't feel the same with everyone gone…." she said solemnly.

"We certainly can't leave now." He said sternly.

Adalind looked him and sighed. "I know." She said and took his hand in hers, telling him whatever he decided, she would be there by his side.

Nick soon realised the incident with Adalind wasn't just isolated to a weary Hexenbiest mother who'd just recently lost her best friend and the father of her young daughter. At the precinct, several of his colleagues, they too woged without provocation and luckily for Nick, they didn't turn their eyes on him or else chaos would have ensued. The pig nosed officer turned out to be a Bauerschwein and there were a couple of Coyotls and a Steinadler. He was almost willing to let it go until he locked eyes with a Höllentier down the passage and she just kept on walking as if nothing had happened.

Once, he could have gone to the apparent strangeness but Renard was gone and Nick didn't think he'd actually miss the Captain but considering who was now sitting in his chair, in the Captain's office, it wasn't the time to hold on to grudges. The only person he could turn to was Adalind and that's exactly what he did. Every night, Nick came home with fresh tales about how the world around him had turned upside down. He was seeing woged wesen everywhere he turned and instead of them running away from him in terror, they carried about their business as if he were a Kehrseite. There was nothing wrong with his eyes, as Adalind told him when she looked at him in her Hexenbiest form. So if it wasn't his eyes, it had to be the wesen, something was definitely not right and he suspected it had something to do with Fletcher Mater, the demon.

As if things couldn't get much worse, within a matter of weeks they started getting reports of people who looked like monsters terrorising neighbourhoods and as if to add insult to injury, such cases went unattended because of the "monsters" within the Precinct forcing those who were Kehrseite into early retirement and leaving a largely wesen police force. He did his best to deal with those cases but Nick was a robbery and homicide detective, he couldn't be effective in cases that were outside his field no matter how much he wanted to help. He was being stretched too thin as it was. The world was going to hell and in the grand scheme of things there was nothing he could do about it, unless….

When he couldn't take the rapidly decaying situation anymore, he stormed into the Captain's office.

"What have you done?" Nick demanded.

"Do you ever knock Detective?" said Mater.

"You've done something to them, admit it!" Nick fumed.

"You seek another monster, so turn your blackened eyes on the real villain in this story." Mater countered.

"What are you talking about?"

Mater took the small picture frame that had been perched on the side of his desk and tossed it to Nick. After catching it, he flipped it to see whom Mater was talking about only it wasn't a picture, it was mirror, the only face Nick saw was his own, and he watched as his eyes turned the darkest shade of Black it felt like he was being pulled down into the abyss. Nick quickly dropped the frame and was relieved to watch it smash into pieces.

"Not I, but you."

"Lies!" He vented.

"Is it? You've seen it; it's a brave new world Decapitare, my world, thanks to you. I told you before, that I couldn't go back. You made sure of that. And there's no hiding what you are in my world."

Nick got his answers and a whole lot more than he bargained for. The wesen were "coming out" so to speak, Bonaparte would have been so thrilled had he lived, Nick thought with bitter irony but that wasn't all he pondered. Mater had watered the seeds of guilt that had lain dormant since the moment Nick handed over the stick and a sapling sprouted firmly in his mind. Wesen were coming out of hiding, the crime rate had skyrocketed as a result, and Nick had caused all of this. He thought of Adalind, she hadn't woged since the night of his first day back at work while everyone else around him has been giving in to their nature with reckless abandon, he rushed home suddenly, fearing the worst but what was the worst?

*/*/*

When he entered the loft, she heard two voices screaming at the top of their lungs. Adalind and Diana were arguing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Adalind was in her human form but Diana's eyes were glowing a furious shade of violet, Nick felt the loft shake with her anger. Diana was now into her mid-teens and obviously, her hormones were running wild despite still being just four years of age.

"I hate you!" Diana screamed before she vanished.

"Diana. DIANA! You get back down here, this discussion isn't over!" Adalind yelled, her eyes heavenward, causing Nick to look up to see what she was looking at.

"What did I miss?" he asked while greeting Adalind in a warm embrace.

"…The usual. She won't listen to me about her powers. She thinks just because she so much more powerful that it gives her the licence to do whatever she wants and that's usually something bad. We've had this talk a million times before, have disagreed almost just as much but we've never argued like this before."

"Maybe I should talk to her."

"That's sweet but I don't want you to get hurt. When Diana's in one of her moods, it's best to keep away."

"I can handle myself." He said.

"I know you can…. It's just been a very long day. Being cooped up in the loft all day is starting to wear on her nerves and her body's changing way too quickly, she barely has time to handle it from one day to the next. Kelly's just as restless as his sister but without the tantrums."

"Let me talk to her, I promise I won't let her turn me into a toad."

"If you're lucky…." She sighed with resignation.

Nick gave Adalind a quick reassuring kiss and trudged up the stair onto their roof. He found her sitting on the edge, her favourite spot overlooking the city. The first time they found her in this manner, Adalind nearly lost it thinking with one mistake, Diana would fall to the ground below but the quickly learnt that Diana used magic not only to stay on the ledge without falling but that she could levitate off the edge without falling. Adalind could never get used to seeing Diana in that way and neither could Nick but he could afford to extend a measure of trust towards Diana that her mother couldn't despite how unnerving it was seeing her on that ledge.

"Diana…?"

"Go away Nick, I don't want to talk to you either."

"Okay, I guess I will do all of the talking." He said, and he came and stood beside her.

"I don't want to listen either." Diana added haughtily.

"It's fine my me, I'll just stand right here all the same"

Diana grunted.

Seconds passed into a minute, then two minutes and then five….

"Okay fine, we can talk," Diana yelled, breaking the silence between them.

"What has you so upset?" he asked.

"Why bother asking, I'm sure she's already told you everything and typically, I'm the bad guy in the story." Diana said emotionally.

Nick's heart tugged at the sadness in Diana's voice. She reminded him so much of Adalind and he could never bear to see her upset and to have this mini version of hers, Nick just wanted to scoop her into his arms and hold her. He didn't. When Diana first came to live with him, she'd almost made her feelings about him clear, he wasn't the man she wanted in her mother's life and so he did his best to show her, knowing that words would never be enough, especially when he wasn't a man a many words. And truth be told, he wasn't sure about Diana any more than she was with him. Their relationship was cordial at best but because of their love for Adalind, they found common ground. Nick made a point not to infringe on Sean's territory where Diana was concerned but Sean was no longer there and Nick would be the only father in Diana's life….

It was amazing how quickly things had changed between them after. They weren't very close but they were not distant either. There was a mutual understanding and sometimes…something more, like Diana initiating the hugs between them when he least expected it or she'd make him a fresh cup of coffee in the morning if Adalind was busy with Kelly. And even though Adalind sometimes voiced her fears of Diana using her powers to hurt others, he knew that Diana was in fact listening to her mother and minding the people around her, that not everyone was "special" like she or her mother was. Adalind had nothing to fear, especially where he was concerned.

"Your mother hasn't told me anything yet. I wanted to talk to you first."

"Really?"

He heard the unexpectant surprise in her voice before it was replaced by an angry huff.

"Mom won't let me use magic at all"

"I'm sure she has her reasons." He offers sincerely.

"…But she uses it all the time. She tries to hide it but I can tell. Sometimes, she uses it without hiding and she forgets."

And just like that, the conversation has shifted.

"What do you mean she forgets?"

"She forgets to change back."

With those words, his blood turned to ice and he remembered his conversation with Mater.

There is no hiding what you are in my world.

If Mater was only talking about wesen not hiding their true faces anymore, Nick knew he had nothing to worry about but the way he said those words, that there was no hiding what people were. He now feared it meant something deeper than just looks. Nick wondered if he actually meant nobody, wesen or kehrseite could hide their true natures, a sort of Umkippen that affected the entire population, not just wesenkind. Adalind had first suppressed her Hexenbiest and after it returned, she went out of her way to make sure not to go back to the way she used to be and that meant actively keeping her Hexenbiest at bay and not relying on it except for the few times it was necessary. He had to talk to Adalind but first, he must broker a reconciliation between mother and daughter.

"Diana, you do know that your mother loves you and only wants what's best for you."

He sees her retort on her lips but she hesitates and leaves it unsaid.

"Do you love your mother?"

"Of course I do." She said sullenly, much like a teenager that she was and wasn't at the same time.

"Then come down from this ledge and tell her you love her." He said.

Diana just stared into the distance before them. After another minute of silence passed between them, she lifted herself from the ledge and headed back down into the loft. When they were both down, they found the loft empty, except for whimpering sounds coming from the bathroom. Adalind was crying.

"Adalind?" Nick called out, his voice thick with worry.

He tried the bathroom door and found it locked from the inside. Diana did her disappearing trick and he soon heard two hushed voices behind the door. He couldn't imagine what was happening inside. He knew if he focused his hearing he'd know exactly what they were saying but he'd rather Adalind told him herself. His worry grew all the more fierce the longer the door remained locked. Nick thought of breaking the door down but resisted the desperate urge surging inside of him like a raging storm. Whatever was affecting the wesen of Portland was affecting Adalind as well. He surmised the reason mother and daughter were arguing. It was Adalind desperately trying to shield her daughter from whatever was already happening to her. It didn't matter that she kept this from him; he just wanted to know how bad it was. Was she okay? He heard some ruffling and muffled intakes of breath before the door opened to reveal Diana. Adalind was standing in front of the mirror, woged with her back towards him.

"You can come in now." Diana said and stepped aside to let him in. She closed the door after her, leaving her mother alone with Nick.

"Well, it's definitely not the flu." She said simply but he could hear the fear in her voice.

"How long has it been?" He asked, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"I don't know, maybe the last couple of weeks or maybe since the morning I woke up." She said referring to the day she came back from the dead over a month ago. I didn't notice it at first, not until you…you came home and found me like this!" she pointed a finger up and down herself. She twisted herself a few times until finally she was finally back to being his Adalind.

"It's like I can't shut it off once it happens. When I do, it hurts, each time worse than the last. Nick, something is seriously wrong with me, I've been afraid to say it or even acknowledge it to myself. I've been trying to control it. Diana…she's still just a child and doesn't understand what's happening to me, to the both of us…." She said with red-rimmed eyes, collapsing but Nick caught her before she could hit the cold hard floor.

"…Easy, I've got you." He said gently.

"I'm sorry…."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. It's all my fault." He said shamefully as his eyes welled up with tears."

"…Your fault? No."

"Yes. Whatever's happening to you, to Diana, to all the wesen in Portland and maybe even the rest of the world is all my fault…." He stops abruptly as the guilt caught up to him.

"No!" Adalind was more insistent. "Don't…" she struggled and he felt her body twist once more and began to change but Adalind held on and didn't woge. All the while, his heart was twisting past the point of breaking as the true weight of his actions dawned on him. She once told him that they were in this together, after they lost their friends…after he lost her and got her back again. They were together now, but at what cost, he thought. Adalind was fighting a losing battle, based on Mater's words. Nick shuddered at the conclusion of those words; there is no hiding what you are….

"Come on," he said and picked her from the floor and led her into their bedroom as a million thoughts went through his mind, primarily a suppressant.

"I'm way ahead of you on that front, but without a rusty dead Hexenbiest just lying around waiting for us to find, we've got nothing," said Adalind as a matter of fact.

"How did you know I was thinking about a suppressant?" He asked in surprise.

"Ah…because you just said it." She said mindlessly as she got under the covers Nick held open for her.

"No I didn't. I was just thinking it but you knew exactly what I was thinking."

They both froze and stared at each other shocked.

"The look on your face tells me that's never happened before."

"…Never. I mean before, if I really concentrated, I could sense what people were feeling but that was when my mother was still teaching me. I've never been able to read people's mind's before. I don't know anybody who could, except maybe Diana and Eve came close to it. We could be wrong, maybe I didn't read your mind," she backtracked suddenly.

This wasn't a good sign. If Adalind was accessing certain abilities that she never used before, that could only mean the Hexenbiest was getting stronger and the more she resisted it, the worse it got. She mentioned being in pain but didn't elaborate. He thought she didn't need to, not after half carrying her from across the loft because he legs were too weak for her to stand on her own.

They were in this together, she had said but the more Nick thought about it, the more felt he might have just consigned her to a fate worse than death. He felt another chill rippled down his spine.

"Can you tell me what I am thinking now?" he asked.

Don't leave me.

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere. We're in this together, remember?"

Immediately he felt like laughing and crying all at once because he was now certain that it was a matter of time before he would lose her and for good this time and not through death.

Portland descended into chaos, like a virus it spread to the surrounding regions. And within a few short months wesen across the world were out of hiding but more than that, enmity and racism spread like wild fire between the wesen communities who now felt it was their time. The violence escalated over a 100% in every which way a person turned. People began to turn on each other despite friendships spanning years, some since childhood. Wesen no longer hid behind their human visages but could he say that was their choice or were they under the influence of Mater?

A line had literally been drawn between the two species which could no longer co-exist, more bodies turned up that looked like they had been mauled by animals and others were of wesen, still woged, with gun shots to their head or several in their chests. He heard of Grimm targeted by the more violent faction of the wesen community no longer bound by human laws. With the world burning, it was left to the old guard to come out of the shadows and try to restore order but that only put bull's eyes on their back. Nick had survived more his fair share of ambushes from both sides who felt he couldn't be trusted. We

He nearly quit the force or whatever it was that was left of it. He wanted to but then he realised he couldn't just leave everything to fall apart. He had a responsibility to keep working not because he swore an oath but he wanted to keep watch over the Captain for when he finally made a move to be ready when he did. Apart from their open conversations in the past, there was nothing out of the ordinary to suggest that Mater wasn't above board. If Nick didn't know any better, he'd be tempted to say he did a decent job as a police Captain but Nick did know the truth and even though he couldn't explain it, all the wesen behaviour, somehow it was connected to him.

Unfortunately knowing this did nothing towards remedying the situation. Nick was a detective, trained in sniffing out the perpetrator, including the weapon used to commit the crime as well as the motive behind the crime. He already knew who the guilty party was and could maybe piece together a motive but there had to be more than just ruling the world, he only thing missing was the "weapon", by what means was Mater influencing the wesen, not just in Portland but in other places.

The stick or rather, the staff….

Nick hadn't thought about it since the day he handed the small piece of wood and watched it float in the air between them to join its bigger and longer version in the skull-faced demon's hand. Grief had clouded Nick's mind so much he didn't pay too much attention about that day; all he could think of was Adalind lying lifeless on the hardened cold ground.

Nick thought back to the times he'd been in Mater's office, trying to remember if he ever saw an odd-looking staff but he dismissed the thought immediately. Mater wasn't an idiot; Nick doubted he'd leave the staff just lying around for anybody to pick up, not unless the staff wasn't a 'staff' anymore. If the staff was as powerful as he believed and Mater had been half as attached to it as Nick had been to the smaller version, he knew the staff, in whatever form it was in, couldn't be too far from Mater. If it wasn't in his office as some nondescript piece of furniture, he could have it on his person for the times he left his office. Therefore, it could be anything from a watch or pen, whatever. And with that thought, he knew what he had to do.

*/*/*

He went home with a plan but things at the loft were beginning to match all of Portland. Diana had grown wilder with each passing day. Adalind did her best to shield Diana from whatever was in the air causing all wesen to lose their inhibitions but it was taking a toll on her mentally and physically. As a result, Nick went out of his way to take care of the woman he loved, knowing how much she gave of herself daily. She still woged involuntarily and stayed woged a lot longer than she wanted but she was adamant to fight the urges to give in to her baser nature limiting all use of her magic to just shielding Diana and dampening her emotions while in woged state, fearful that with one careless mistake she could one day hurt him or Kelly.

Nick was more than certain that would never happen. Adalind had a stubborn streak about her and whatever she set her mind and heart to do, she gave it her everything. It was one of the things he loved about her, that, and her fierce loyalty to those she loved, the trust he had in her wasn't some blind love foolhardiness. Adalind had more than proved her mettle as a mother and a lover.

However, time was running out. Diana was growing too fast and too strong for her mother. They both did their best to shelter Diana and to guide her but something always seemed to tug at that shield, that bubble that kept the rest of the world at bay. Diana became too independent as her body changed rapidly, perhaps more so because the world was changed. The time Diana never slept home and Adalind nearly lost her mind. They drove around Portland all through the night searching hospitals, police cells, places they thought were her likely hangouts but she hardly ever stepped outside of the loft, at least not outside of her mother's company and Diana had not shown an affinity towards any one particular place.

Diana's condition made it difficult for her to bond with outsiders because she never stayed in one state for long enough to make any friends and with the world gone crazy, she couldn't help but instil fear to those around her who didn't know her because of her powers growing exponentially. It was a hard life for Diana. The only people she could relate to were within the walls of the loft and Nick and Adalind knew this couldn't be enough. At day break, he made up his mind and drove a weary Adalind and Kelly home so they could rest, choosing to continue the search alone. As he turned the corner, he saw a blonde headed young woman sitting cross-legged next to the garage door into the old paint factory he'd converted into a home for his family.

Diana.

She opened the garage door before he could and Nick drove his Cruiser, he waited until they were all safely inside before placing his hand on Adalind's shoulder and gently shook her awake.

"Hmm…?" she groaned awake.

"Someone's finally home." He said.

"Diana?" she glanced up and that's when she saw her daughter standing a few feet from the car and immediately jumped out of the car to embrace Diana.

"My baby girl!" Adalind cried as she desperately clung to Diana

"Ma, I'm not a child anymore. You have to stop treating me like one."

"No. You're my baby and that's that." Adalind said, still holding onto Diana like if she dared to let go, her baby would vanish from before her eyes.

"Dad, you tell her. She listens to you more than she does me."

"Di, I'm with your mother on this. You scared us both disappearing the way you did. You know it's not safe in Portland anymore. It's not safe in any place right now and we didn't know where you were…."

"…But you both know nothing would have happened to me. I'm the most powerful person around…"

"That doesn't mean there isn't someone out there more powerful; you of all people should know that." He said sternly.

It was the truth and he was at least grateful to see her expression acknowledge that fact. There was someone stronger than she was and until Nick could deal with him, he didn't want Diana to acting recklessly ever again. She wasn't his daughter by blood but she was his in spirit and by virtue of his relationship with Adalind and Kelly and the fact that he helped raise her and has watched her "grow" from being a child to the woman he now saw in front of him. It wasn't just Adalind who worried desperately not knowing her whereabouts. In addition, he owed it to Adalind to keep Diana safe at every cost.

"I met someone," he heard Diana tell her mother while he fed Kelly his breakfast and immediately his defences where up.

Of whom in the world was Diana talking about? Nevertheless, he kept calm, not wanting to rock the boat after just surviving the worst storm since battling the demon and lost.

"What do you mean you met someone?" Adalind asked in confusion.

"Mom, do you remember in the beginning after Black Claw brought me home, how much of a brat I was because I wanted you and Daddy to be together? I didn't understand it at first, what you have with Nick; someone who not only loved you but understood you the way you two understood each other." She said and looked at Nick hopeful.

"Diana, you're too young to be talking about love."

"Mom, not this again, I'm not a child. I know you think that way because you birthed me a year before Kelly…just because he's still a baby, doesn't make me one. No offence Kel-Bear."

"Diana." Adalind used her stern voice but it only infuriated Diana."

"Mom, do you want me to tell you my story or not?"

"Fine, I'll stay quiet. Who's this boy?"

"Why do you think it's a boy?"

"Diana!"

"Okay fine. I wanted to experience what you and Dad have, to find someone who understands me for me and I did and it's not a boy. He's more than that. I'm not saying I love him or anything. I just met the guy but Dad; we spent the whole night just talking about nothing and everything all at once. He was so perfect. He didn't freak out when he realised what I can do. Do you know how good that felt, to not have someone look at you funny because they are afraid of you?"

"This guy, is he wesen or Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen?" Nick asked as he continued to fly airplanes of food into his son's mouth.

"I actually don't know what he is. I didn't ask and I didn't want to use my powers to find out. See Mom, I can control myself so you can stop fussing over me every time a use my powers." She said pointedly while looking at her mother.

"Hey, don't try to be smart. I'm still not convinced I like the sound of this boy, I mean guy, at all. Who is he? Where does he come from? Can we trust him? You heard Nick; it's not safe out there, not with everything that's happening."

"Ugh! I knew this was a mistake, I shouldn't have said anything at all. I came to you about Fletch because I wanted to. I wanted to show you that you can trust me but it was mistake. He told me you wouldn't understand."

Nick dropped the bowl with Kelly's food and it crashed into pieces onto the concrete floor scattering broken shards and baby food everywhere, startling the two ladies in front of him.

"Sorry, I thought I heard you say this guy, his name's Fletch?" Nick asked as his heart began to pound in his ears.

"Yeah, his name is Fletcher Mater."

Adalind gasped in horror as she turned to Nick.

"Nick, he's come for her." She said softly, terror written all over her face.

"What…what's wrong?" Diana asked, oblivious to her mother's palpable terror. The last time Diana showed this level of detachment to her mother's emotions, the skull-faced man had come for her and everyone died except Nick and the children. Nick and Adalind were always careful not to talk about Mater in Diana's presence, not knowing how she would react.

"Mom, what's the matter?" She asked once more and this time, a little more flippantly than before.

Everything, Nick thought.

The look on Adalind's face confirmed that she read his mind, something he was grateful to Adalind she never encourage in Diana despite being infinitely more powerful than her mother. "It was an invasion of privacy," Adalind had told her daughter the first time she read Adalind's mind and learnt very intimate things about Nick and Adalind that made them both blush profusely. After that incident, Diana never listened in on people's thoughts, at least she assured them she didn't and they took her at her word.

Although Diana asking what was wrong was a sign that she wasn't completely lost to Mater's sway, it was only a matter of time before he'd have her completely under his thrall and they would soon relive the horror of the past once more. Memories of the past began to flood his mind, like sutures tearing at his heart and exposing a long forgotten wound that never fully healed. He could still remember Diana fear and glass shattering screams, afraid "he" was coming for her and then it all strangely stopped. What a fool Nick had been, thinking, no, believing Mater had somehow forgotten about Diana because he now had his stick. It all began to make sense, why Mater never made a move the whole time since showing up at the station.

"Diana, stay away from that man…." He stopped short of saying "that was an order," not knowing how she would react.

"Why, he's the first real friend I have made in my miserable life and you want to take that away from me?" she said pitifully.

"Sweetheart, he is not your friend." Adalind tried to smooth over the rapidly decreasing calm in her daughter but Diana's eyes started glowing as her features soured at what seemed like an attack from them both. The loft began to shake.

"Diana, stop that!" Nick interjected, stepping towards the woman he already considered as his daughter.

"Stay away Nick," she uttered as she tried to reign in her anger.

Hearing Diana use his name for the first time in months burnt.

"I desperately want what you have, the freedom to be myself and be accepted. I finally found it and I can't…I won't let you take that away from me," she said as tears streamed down her face.

"Diana, you don't understand. This is what Mater wants you to think. He forced you to go with him a long time ago but now he's trying to make you think this is what you want but he's playing with your emotions, controlling you the same way he's controlling these wesen." He regretted the words the second he spoke them as Diana blew out every electric device and plunged the loft into semi darkness except for a Diana. A strange green light covered her from head to toe, swirling around like an insidious mist.

"Diana…." Adalind approached her daughter, her hands raised slightly to show her she meant no harm but Diana, without lifting a finger, violently threw Adalind across the loft. She crashed against the bureau in their bedroom, and sending the contents placed on it flying about.

"I said STAY AWAY!" she yelled.

"Adalind!" Nick cried out, frozen on the spot.

He wanted to go to her but he didn't want to risk moving from standing between Diana and Kelly. Adalind was motionless. Nick didn't know how hard Diana threw her but he suspected it was with a great amount of force, even if Adalind had expected it, she stood no chance against Diana once the full force of her wrath was unleashed.

"Mom…?" Diana whimpered regretfully when the green mist began to dissipate and she saw what she had done. She ran towards her mother but stopped suddenly at the foot of the steps and didn't go any further, looking over her mother before turning away, and locking eyes with Nick for a split second but it felt like an eternity. He saw the shame and fear in those blue eyes so much like her mother's and then she was gone.

Nick bounded to Adalind's side, to check for vital signs. He heard her heartbeat, felt the warm breath against his skin. She was alive but he wasn't sure if she was badly hurt or not. The loft was dead quiet except for Kelly's cries. He was so used to his sister making him laugh that this new experience left him frightened. Nick called out her name, begging her to open her eyes for him. She groaned.

"Diana…?"

"She's gone." He feared this time it was for good.

"No-no-no," cried Adalind in anguish.

Nick just held her against him as heart-rending sobs wrecked her whole body. Nick held her until she'd worn herself out. He knew he had to do something and he knew where to start but he didn't want to leave Adalind alone. If only Rosalee was still around, he thought helplessly and then he remembered Bud, good old Bud. He was always there for him whenever he needed help and had nowhere else to turn. He hoped this would be like one of those times and pulled out his cell and dialled his number.

The phone rang without a response until he went straight to voicemail. He tried is one more time and then a third time until Bud finally answered his call.

"Bud, it's me. Please don't hang up, I need your help."

"Nick, I'd love to help you, you know that but the missus…you know how she is these days."

"I know, I wouldn't be asking you this, if I wasn't desperate. I am desperate. I need someone to stay with Adalind and Kelly while I take care of something."

"What about Diana?"

"Bud, she's the thing I need to take care of, I can't explain it. I don't want to leave Adalind by herself right now," he pleaded.

It was silent on the other end and for a second, Nick was afraid he'd lost Bud.

"Okay, you can bring them over."

"Thanks Bud. I owe you one."

*/*/*

In truth, he owed Bud quite a few and one of these days, he would have to started making good on his debt but not until he dealt with Fletcher Mater.

Once he was satisfied that Adalind and Kelly were safe, as much as they could be under the circumstances, he drove straight to the Precinct and marched into Mater's office but it wasn't Mater he found siting behind the desk, it was a wesen.

"Where's the Captain?" He demanded of the Löwen.

"Grimm!" the Löwen growled angrily.

"I asked you a question," Nick shot back, his eyes flashing angrily.

"I am the Captain of this Precinct."

"No, Fletcher Mater is and I want to know where he is right now!" he demanded.

"You must be confused because there's no one here by that name and I have been Captain of this precinct for over a year now. Now get out of my office Grimm scum before I lose my temper."

Nick looked around the office and for the first time since barging in, he saw how different the office looked from the last time he stood in the same spot, in front of the Captain's desk. There were trophies on the walls and not the gold and shiny kind and pictures too of the Löwen and what looked like his family and his hunting bidding as they held celebratory beers over the body of a man. Everything in the office was changed; he detected not a single trace of Mater on sight. As he turned to leave, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It on the calendar sitting on the desk that made him stop in his tracks; it was flicked to March 24. He would have ignored it had the year not read 2020.

"What is this?" he picked up the calendar and turned to the Löwen.

"I told you to get out; you are not welcome in this building. Get out before I forget my manner." He sneered at Nick.

Nick made a quick exit, grabbing his cell from his pocket and quickly dialled Bud's number once again.

"The number you have dialled does not exist," the automated machine said.

Nick dialled the number one more time, thinking that maybe he punched in the wrong number or that his service provider had rerouted his call accidentally.

"The number you have dialled does not exist-the number you have dialled does not exist-the number you have dialled does not exist."

He hung up, dialled Adalind's cell phone instead and got the same response. He was in full panic mode he sped down the road on his way to Bud's house. Nick's heart nearly gave out as he saw the remnants of what used to be Bud's house thick with rubble and wild vegetation sprouting out of every crevice. He couldn't believe his eyes. Barely two hours had passed since he left Adalind and his son at that house and now it looked like it hadn't been occupied for a good decade.

Nick quickly got out of the car and ran up what used to be Bud's front lawn but was now an unkempt bush calling out for Adalind…for Bud but there was no response. It was pointless; there was nobody there but what else could he do? When he looked around him, he saw that it wasn't just Bud's house that was abandoned but it was only Bud's house that looked like a bomb had gone off inside. What had happened there? Where was his family?

Nick got back into the Cruiser and rushed to the paint factory. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw from a distance that it was still standing. When he pushed the button on his key to open the garage door, it wouldn't budge. Rather than waste time, he jumped out and pulled at the door. It wouldn't open. He gave it another tug, using all of his strength until it finally gave way, lifting all the way to the top. He drove in and shut the door behind him.

Nick looked around him and the place looked like it hadn't seen life in years. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere. There wasn't a sign that anyone ever lived there and he tried to still his racing heart, murmuring to himself as he pushed for the elevator. After what seemed like an eternity, the lift finally crawled to a stop and with a cough and a sputter, the doors opened to let him inside. Like before, the elevator struggled to lift to the floor above bit it eventually opened to reveal a darkened loft.

He flipped the lights and by some miracle the lights came on and to his ever-increasing surprise, the place didn't have a speck of dust in sight like the garage floor. But his joy was short-lived when he called out Adalind's name but was met with silence. The lights then went out again and suddenly he felt the floor give way beneath his feet and flew across the room, smashing against the storage doors by the elevator and collapsed to the floor. It felt like someone had kicked him in the chest, if they were moving at the speed of a racing car.

"Whoever you are, you picked the wrong place to loot." He heard a low raspy voice from behind the bedroom doors. It sounded familiar but there was soothing off about it. That's when he saw her. Adalind in her Hexenbiest form, bent and hideous, nothing like how she looked the last time he saw her in her woged form, which, to him, was only just yesterday but actually two years in this warped reality he found himself. Adalind used her mind to pick him from the floor and slam him against the other side of their fome, the hard edge splitting his head open and blood flowed freely. He'd barely recovered himself when she picked him up again but this time suspended him in mid-air and twisted his, bending him backwards like she was trying to break him in half.

"Adalind…Addie, it's me." He managed to say as he looked down on her through searing pain.

"Nick…?" He heard his name and then passed out before crashing to the floor.

He felt a bony hand thread through his hair, the way she used to on the rare occasion she woke up first. He used to love the feel of her hand, almost lulling him back to sleep. Nick lay motionless enjoying the memory a lot more than the act eliciting such thoughts. When he finally opened his eyes, he was lying face down on his bed only it didn't feel like it. It was dark all around except for a candle burning in the distance. He felt a weight rise from beside him and move to where the light couldn't reach but he saw her, her body twisted and face veiled, like she didn't want him to see what she'd become but then he always had good eyesight.

She dragged herself back to the bed with a bowl in her hand.

"The light, it hurts my eyes. Here drink, it will numb the pain." She rasped but with the familiar rapping as she spoke much louder than before, placing the bowl on the side table in front of him.

That explained the darkness and the veil but not everything else, like what happened, two years had passed since he last laid eyes on her, since he last kissed or touched her. His body ached for her even then. It wasn't lost on him that she kept her distance now that he was awake. He pushed himself up and winced in excruciating pain, his chest, his back, his whole body ached.

"Take it easy, I hurt you real bad but this should help, drink it…all of it," she instructed him more fervently.

Nick pushed through the pain to sit up and lean his back against the wall so he could face her. He lifted the concoction to his lips and gulped the bitter contents, down to the very last drop. He fought the urge to vomit, closing his eyes and waited for the nausea to subside.

"Nick…I thought you were dead." She said."

"Would you believe me if I told you the last time I saw was this morning. We came home after driving all night looking for Diana. The last thing I remember, I left you and Kelly with Bud and went after Mater, hoping to find Diana with him."

"That was two years ago Nick. You disappeared and we couldn't find you. I couldn't find you. I thought you died somewhere…." He heard the small catch in her voice.

"Kelly…where's Kelly? Where is our son?"

"I thought you died…." She said, not answering him. He wasn't even sure she heard him. She just repeated those four little words like a broken a record.

"Adalind."

"Diana left me. You left me and so did Kelly. Alone…you all left me alone in this place…." She said deliriously to herself, forgetting that he was even there, her voice barely above a whisper but then again, he had very good hearing.

Adalind was weeping and his heart sank.

"What do you mean he's gone? What happened?" He asked, his voice louder than he meant but Adalind didn't pay him any attention, so lost in her own thoughts of a past he never lived.

"I left Bud's the day you left and told him to get his family as far from Portland as possible. No place was safe but any place was better than Portland where people knew he was your friend. He told me he made a promise and intended to keep it. Grimm had become persona non grata and you most of all because of me, Monroe and Rosalee, and every other wesen you helped, suddenly the Weserein and Black Claw ideals start sprouting again and more fiercely than before. They harassed him until he finally listened and left town."

"What about Kelly?" He said impatiently, like the thundering beating of his heart. Where was Kelly? What had happened to him? Adalind lifted her eyes to look at him but he could see nothing in them, her lids were nearly completely shut.

"He took both my babies from me." She said coldly.

No. No. No!

Nick's hands balled into fists as he struggled to hold down his emotions but instead he slammed his hand on the table beside him, splitting it open.

"NO!" he bellowed in deep sorrowful cries, slamming it a couple of more times, causing the splintered wood to pierce his skin I several places.

"Stop, you're hurting yourself." Adalind took a step towards but then stopped herself.

He didn't care what happened to him, his son was gone and he wasn't there to protect him.

"The day he came, I stood between him and Kelly but he broke me, not like I almost did to you. He was carrying something with him, a satchel. He threw it at my feet and said it was a gift. It was your head, or what I thought at the time was your head. Nick he broke my mind, my spirit and finally my body but I would not move, after everything he took from me, I refused to let him have our son but he was so much stronger than me. He had my life in his hands and could have ended me with just one blow but told me that wasn't my fate. Death was too good for me. So he used Diana and ripped my heart from me one piece at a time. By the time I woke up, they were all gone and I couldn't move, let alone breathe. I wished for death a thousand times but it never came because somewhere in the world my children needed me."

Rage turned into heartache. Nick ached to hold her. He lifted himself from the bed and walked towards her but Adalind stepped back, away from him. The pain in his body was unbearable but manageable; the pain of watching Adalind distancing herself from him was something he wasn't prepared for.

"Adalind please…."

"Nick…I can't do this…."

"So I can't hold you?"

"That's not what I meant." She faltered as she moved to the other side, almost placing the bed between them.

"Then explain it to me," he almost begged.

"Mater left me for dead, or at least nearly. He was punishing me for resisting him as long as I did and I'm not talking about our fight. I mean everything else before that. After he got the stick, he had released magic into the world to make people into what they truly are deep down inside, monsters. It was slow in the beginning, lulling us into thinking we were still in control. But with each passing day, every wesen and human reverted back to their baser nature, animals, but for some reason I didn't and neither did the Grimm, which is why they were the first to be hunted down. Me? I was the anomaly. Somehow, he found out….

"Maybe it was the fact that I had lost my powers before and then later gave them up that the Hexenbiest no longer had sway over me, I don't really know other than I didn't behave in the way I was expected to. I woged like everyone else but I was still myself and I had tried to help our daughter do the same. That's why he sent Diana after me, to show me his power over us all. Now I can't change back, none of us can."

He listened attentively to her tale; taking small measured steps until he could finally be close to her, but her agitated state bolted his feet to the floor. She took a moment before continuing, as if to make sure he stayed away but how could he stay away from her, he could no sooner stop breathing but then this wasn't just about him, or about what he needed. He couldn't imagine how alone she was, for two years, what that did to her. When he lost his mother the first time, he still had his aunt and then he lost her again, along with Juliette but it was as if fate was shining down on him. He gained the family he'd longed for his whole life in Adalind and their son. For two years, Adalind had nobody….

"At the first chance I got, when I could finally stand on my own two feet, I started searching. It was hard, my body couldn't take the strain, not without fully recovering and I couldn't waste any time just sitting or lying in some bed without knowing where my children were. That's when I discovered I could no longer see as well as I used to, so relied a lot on my powers, focusing them to compensate for everything I now lacked. That's the thing with our magic; we grow more haggard and disfigured the more we use it. It's the price we pay. It's why I look the way I do, there was no stone I left unturned, no spell I didn't cast, I did everything I could to find them but nothing. Our babies aren't in Portland anymore. And I can't leave the loft like this except at night and even then I can't get further than a few hundred miles in each direction, not without knowing where I'm going and how long I'll be gone. Basically I'm trapped in my own body as much as I am trapped in here…." She said solemnly.

"Can you please sit," he gestured towards their bed.

She hesitated for a split second before doing as he bid her. It did hurt him to see her this way, tired and spent. He suspected she was trying to keep some distance because of her looks. He remembered the time he spoke with utter disdain to Renard, asking how he could find her Hexenbiest attractive. At the time, he didn't believe her to be anything other than the monster she referred to earlier. He quickly learnt how wrong he was.

No, the Hexenbiest wasn't pretty to look at but once he saw what was in her heart, he saw the real Adalind and even when she changed, he still saw her,the woman he loved, the same woman who sacrificed everything for those she loved. And even now when she looked as she did, he still saw her, the love of his life, defiant, strong, and full of love and she bore the scars of that love, so how could he turn away from her? Nick's heart swelled inside his chest, so much so he thought it would burst. For a second he thought of taking her hand in his, but banished the thought, wary of how she'd react so he sat on the far edge of the bed, maintaining the physical distance between them.

"Are you sure, they aren't in Portland?" he asked, his head finally clear and desperate to take action.

"I'm more than positive." She said with certainty.

*/*/*

Their first night together was anything but. They had a quick dinner in silence, like the first few days after Kelly's birth. Kelly. Thoughts of their son filled the silence, making it all the more unbearable. He was hurting and so was she but he was powerless to do anything about it so he followed her lead against his better judgement. He felt like a stranger in his own home. The woman he loved locked herself behind walls forged in pain and suffering and he didn't know how to break them down. After a brief awkward moment where they tip toed around each other, Adalind telepathically closed the doors to their bedroom and effectively shut the door to her heart. He didn't need to read her mind in order to understand.

Not since those few days of Adalind living with Sean Renard under Black Claw's shadow did Nick know this pain of separation from the woman he loved as he did that night. The pain of not sleeping beside her and feeling the warmth of her breath against his skin or feeling the faint beating of her heart against his chest…to have her so near and yet so far from him. He couldn't sleep while knowing she was right there, only a few feet away from him. Nevertheless, would she welcome him if he went to her? Their first night at the loft she nervously asked him to share her bed. It was crazy, he had thought. His head was telling him "No" clearly but his body was screaming the opposite. He tried every excuse in the book to force himself to double down on the single bed he now occupied, like Juliette but even the feelings he had for his former girlfriend weren't enough to keep him away from Adalind.

Unable to sleep, his mind wandered, playing back everything that he went through from the moment since his aunt returned to Portland and charged him with protecting the key that had been in their family for hundreds of years. It was the key that brought him and Adalind together in more ways than one but it was also the same key that led to the death of all of his friends. Had he not gone to Germany, Monroe…everyone would still be alive.

And suddenly a thought crossed his mind.

Germany.

The Black Forest.

That is where it all began…the keys…the stick and perhaps that is where it can all end, he thought. It was early morning, Nick threw the blanket away and rushed to tell Adalind that there was still hope; that there was a chance to find Mater and hopefully, find both their kids. Another thought made him stop abruptly, what if he was wrong? Was it worth raising Adalind's hopes only to crush them so definitively if he was wrong? Could he live with himself if he caused her additional pain? Could he live with himself if he didn't at least follow this small lead? He knocked gently on the door before entering.

Adalind was sitting on the bed, he back against the wall, apparently no more able to sleep than he was.

He sat down beside her, "I think I know where they are." He said, doing away with unnecessary chatter.

"How…where?" She asked, doing her best to ignore the fact that he was so close.

"Germany. That's where Mater is."

She didn't look convince so he grabbed both her hands in his wanting her to believe him, to trust him just one more time.

"I don't know how but I know he's there and…and so could they." He said, his voice low but firm.

She said nothing but he couldn't help but notice she didn't flinch from his touch more importantly the quickening of her heartbeat at the springing of a new hope. Unfortunately, the moment passed as quickly as it came before Adalind pulled free from him.

"Addie…is something wrong?" He did his best to hide his disappointment.

"I can't go with you. I don't know if you've noticed but this isn't the same Portland you remember."

"I know all of that. All wesen aren't hiding anymore."

She sneered.

"It's anarchy Nick. The world's fallen apart and nobody cares."

"So what's the problem, why can't we go to Germany?"

"I said I couldn't come with you. I can't be seen with you any more than you can afford to be seen with me. It's nothing like before where you could go wherever you wanted. A line has been drawn and there's no going back to when we lived side by side, even when kehrseite found out about us and for a short while it looked like we might finally co-exist. You either look like me or I woge and I don't think I can do that anymore."

He heard the words but he couldn't believe it. He remembered the Löwen at the station, the look of contempt on his face, the grotesque hunting pics. He wondered if the only reason Nick walked out of the precinct was due to the fact that he was Grimm and nobody wanted to take him on, not without having a clear advantage. Showing up unannounced or even expected in enemy territory could set even the most aggressive opponent off his game, he thought.

"What the hell is going on?" He growled, his frustration at over this new reality finally getting the better of him. He wasn't sure if it was because of the coldness between him and Adalind or the mess engulfing Portland and possibly the world at large or maybe it was both. It wasn't the life he wanted for them, his family. Every day he struggled to remember a time when it wasn't him, Adalind, Kelly and Diana together and happy and to have it ripped away from him piece by piece blindsided him. When he got Adalind back, he swore to hang on to them no matter what but he felt the emptiness of the loft down to his bones.

But there was still hope, he thought desperately.

They could still be a family once again. All they had to do was go to the Black Forest….

"We're going to Germany. We'll find a way…"

"…Or die trying." She added.

"Or fight anyone that stands in our way." He corrected her.

Nobody was dying, especially her, he thought stubbornly. She was silent for what felt like an eternity. A frightening thought invaded his mind that he would fail, that no matter what he did, how hard he fought, he would still end up losing everything. If Adalind wasn't with him, failure was a certainty. He needed her with him. They were a quite the pair, him and her. From the very beginning, their lives intertwined in the most complex and intense fashion, going from enemies with nothing but hatred for each, to having nothing but pure love and adoration for one another, something that was completely unexpected but a miracle nonetheless. He looked down at her, eager for her to seal her fate once more with his, for their family. What did it matter that the world had gone crazy as long as they were together?

"Say something, please." He pleaded when he couldn't take the silence any longer.

She looked up at him with a hint of excitement at the slight curl of her lips.

"I think there might be a way for us to get to Germany…maybe." She said, her smile retracting as she retreated into her thoughts.

"What?" he asked impatiently, trying to draw her back into the present.

"There could be a way for both of us to be in Germany as quickly as the next five minutes but I'm not sure if it will work. While you were…away, I studied every single one of my mother's books. She has a lot of books. I didn't exactly have a choice when I ran out of other resources of trying to find our babies. Suffice to say; there a ton of things in them you don't want to know about but there one thing that can help us is an inter-dimensional spell, a blood spell to be specific. I have used it a couple of times to get from one place to the next…."

"But…?"

"According to the book, using one's blood, a portal can open to any place you want to travel but only for the person whose blood conjures the spell."

"So I actually can't go through the portal with you?" He asked in confusion, she wasn't making sense saying they could both go only to say only she could go through the portal once it's opened.

"Honey, have you forgotten about our 'not first' kiss from years ago?" She actually smiled. It was not a pretty sight but it warmed his heart nonetheless to see.

"The Bremen woods."

He remembered they shared more than the just a kiss that night.

"After that night you were a part of me and with Kelly, I became a part of you. Do you see? We are one, you and I. Maybe instead of one person going through the portal, two people can go through. We just need a specific location, a place with a large mirror."

"Like the Inn where Monroe and I stayed?"

"Exactly. I have to know precisely where it is, in order for us to come through safely. I don't want to find out what happens when we don't."

"So this could work?" he said, letting his heart lift with renewed hope.

"It could work," she said with equal feeling.

For the first time since he came back, there was a buoyance between them. He ravenously drank it in like a drug he'd long gone without and was desperate to feel its effects throughout his mind, his body, his whole being.

"All we need now is a plan because he can't be killed."

"I know, I already tried that and failed. Killing him may not be an option but we can take away his reason for taking Diana and holding Kelly hostage."

"What are you talking about?"

"About three month ago, Diana came to me, at least it was her projected self. She didn't get a chance to say much before disappear as quickly as she appeared but I could see fear in her eyes. She wanted me to come find them and save her from him. I begged her to tell me where she was. She didn't know." Adalind said with self-loathing.

"But now we do and we will get her back." He said conscious of how quickly Adalind's mood changed without warning and needing her to stay hopeful.

"Addie, we will get our children back, I promise you. Are you with me?" he asked her.

She looked up at him and gave him a nod.

"You said something about taking away his reason for taking Diana, what do you mean?"

"Diana is special. She's not just a Hexenbiest, she's much more than that. Your mother once told you as much."

"Yes, I remember."

"Someone as powerful as Mater would want someone as powerful as Diana especially if he could exert his influence on her. If he could influence every wesen in the world and not just Portland, Diana isn't immune to him."

"But you are." He interrupted her.

"Yes but only to a certain extent. There's things that even now are beyond my control," she said and looked away from him, he assumed from shame.

When he met Adalind, she had been working for Sean Renard. However, it had taken Nick stripping her of her abilities to realise that Renard had in fact been using her that he never once cared for her and as a result, she lashed out against everyone that had hurt her, even Juliette, who'd done nothing but befriend her at the time but that was in the past.

"Diana's abilities are what drew Mater to her, more than once. He only stayed in Portland for as long as it took to get her to…to leave with him. The first time he came after her, she'd been frightened and a child, the last time, he waited, practically seducing her away from us so she willingly chose to leave with him."

"Then why did he take Kelly if it was Diana he wanted?"

"For the longest time I didn't know the answer to that question until Diana appeared at the edge of our bed in the dark of night." A single tear rolled down Adalind's exhausted face.

"I believe our son is leverage for whatever Mater planned for Diana. Mater is powerful but I don't think Diana is at all like he expected maybe she's not completely under his control and that's why he took Kelly. He is using our son against her." She looked up at him in desperation. "What is he doing with them…to them? I failed them Nick. I'm a terrible mother. I couldn't protect them when they needed me the most. What kind of a mother am I who can't even protect her children?" Adalind's tears began to fall in earnest. He swept her into his arms and held her as tightly as possible while her body began to shake from the helplessness she felt coupled with deep regrets. But she wasn't at fault, he thought shamefully.

"No, you're wrong. I failed them. I failed you by not killing Mater when I still had the chance. I'm the reason he took them and I am so sorry, please forgive me." He said as the weight of his past mistakes barrelled down on him. But what other choice did he have, he thought as imaged of a dead Adalind bombarded his mind.

"I am so sorry," he said repeatedly, like the prayer of a desperate man confronted for the first time by the truth, that he is truly powerless. They clung to one another, drawing as much comfort from the embrace as they could until Adalind's sobs finally. It was a while before he realised she'd dozed off against his chest so he laid her gently back against the pillows causing her to wake but Adalind wouldn't let him go.

"I am sorry too. Please don't leave me?" Her voice was soft against his skin.

She scooted further from the edge to make room for him and he joined her without hesitation, spooning her against his chest. The last twenty-four hours were too surreal, time was displaced, physically, he didn't feel any different but somehow…deep inside, he felt the change, like he'd truly lived the last two years without her. It was impossible but he felt it regardless. He felt it in the way he craved to be near her, to feel her so close to him. Nick buried his face in her once golden hair, she still smelled as sweet as he remembered, perfect. They slept in each other's arms for the rest of the day.

When he finally opened his eyes, the bedroom was bathed in near total darkness and he was alone.

"Adalind?!"

"I'm here," she called out.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dinner's almost done." She said sticking her head round the door.

He jumped off the bed and rushed to give her a bear like hug.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said guiltily.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"I had some errands to run, three dead Hexenbiests to be exact."

"Huh?"

"We can talk while eating, I'm famished." She wormed away from his arms and left him standing alone.

"Well…aren't you going to join me?" she asked.

He stepped down onto the loft area and immediately was mesmerised. There were candles almost on every surface, under different circumstances, he would have thought she was trying to seduce him but he knew that wasn't the case. Adalind led him to the table, already decked with two tall candles between them. It was almost too romantic.

"This looks amazing and smell even better," he complimented her.

He heard her smile as she turned and returned to the stove for the main dish.

"Here, let me…." He offered immediately, pulling her away and leading her to take a seat at the table and then setting the pot roast on the table between. It really did smell delicious, he thought. He dished up for them and took his seat across from her, lamenting the distance between them but not too much because things had long begun to thaw and Adalind stopped trying to keep him at a distance. It wasn't like before but he was grateful of the change.

"So…about the three dead Hexenbiests?"

"Yes, them, I…we need them to make a suppressant."

"But why three Hexenbiest, don't you need just one?"

"I do, but Diana is so much stronger than I and I don't know if one would be enough and we might need to have more than two batches, remember what happened last time?"

Yes, Juliette had destroyed the last of the suppressant Adalind made with Rosalee's help.

"Or maybe I can make a stronger potion instead. I was thinking that by suppressing Diana's Hexenbiest, it might make her useless to Mater but we need a guarantee or else he could simply wait for it to wear off, as it did with me. I want to find a way to dampen her powers permanently. Without those powers, mater will have no reason to keep her or Kelly…." She said.

Adalind told him how she hoped to increase the potency of the suppressant. She told him how when her powers returned, although she'd been afraid of becoming the same conniving and destructive person he knew before Diana's birth, she didn't. Her powers were back but their influence on her psyche never returned and as a result, she exerted control over the Hexenbiest instead of it being the other way round.

"If we could manage to get the potion to Diana, there's a chance that her powers may not only be suppressed but that when they returned, she'll be nothing more than a regular Hexenbiest, as she should have been from the beginning."

"Is that possible?" Nick asked her taking her hand in his.

"I don't know but I have to try. It's something I honestly should have done this a long time ago. It has to work, there's no other way."

He could sense her apprehension, that it wouldn't be as easy as that but it was as good a plan as any when going against a man they couldn't kill. They had to focus on saving their children first and worry about the rest after.

Adalind spent the following two days working and reworking the potion, changing some ingredients, adding others she felt would give the desired effect. Unfortunately, unlike before, she had no one to test the potion on, not even on herself if she hoped to open the portal.

The portal.

That was another part of their plan they had no guarantee on whether it would work or not so Nick suggested they do a test run. It was clear she could open the portal and travel through it. They had two large mirrors, one hanging against the wall in their bedroom and another against the trap door leading into the tunnels. Nick had watched her disappear into the mirror in their bedroom and reappear through the other successfully, the question was could both of them travel at the same time?

The moment finally arrived to test whether or not Nick could jump through the portal. They both stood in front of the mirror and facing their reflections. Adalind, using the knife in her hand, slit the palm of her hand and blood dripped freely onto the floor. She discarded the knife and grabbed Nick's hand before smearing her blood across the mirror. They watched as their reflections disappeared and the portal opened.

"I guess this is it." He said.

Adalind took a step into the mirror and Nick watched as she disappeared behind the swirling darkness pulling him to follow her but suddenly, like hitting a brick wall, his hand slammed against the portal and Adalind was gone. He was left standing alone in front of the mirror before he heard Adalind fall through the other mirror in the loft.

It didn't work.

"No, there has to be a way! We're so close…." She cried out to him.

He pulled her into his arms, "We'll find a way." He said reassuringly.

"I'm not giving up." She insisted and pulled away from him, muttering to herself as she paced the loft.

I know I am missing something, I can't give up now." She said feverishly as she walked back and forth for several minutes. She ignored him when he tried speaking to her, so lost she was in her thoughts. Therefore, he waited. Back and forth, she went, still mumbling incoherent words not meant for him and then out of nowhere she stopped and turned sharply towards him.

"I think I have it." She just said before fetching a knife from the counter and taking him by the hand, again.

Once more they stood in front of the mirror when Adalind suddenly lifted up his right hand and made a sharp incision between from his thumb and forefinger downwards, drawing his blood. Nick winced in pain but he didn't have time to think about her actions before she made a similar cut to her left hand, a perfect mirror to his and joined her hand to his, causing their blood to mix. She eventually looked him in the eye and spoke one word.

"Together."

Adalind raised his hand against the mirror and repeated, "Together."

He understood. The both smeared their mingled blood across the mirror and the portal opened immediately. They waited several moments as they watched the swirl before their bloody hands found one another. Adalind took a step forward but Nick held her back.

"Together," he said and pulled her into an embrace. "We do this together."

Adalind buried her head in his chest and held him tightly. Together, they took a step forward and a gaping hole opened in the pit of his stomach at the possibility that she was wrong. He shut his eye at the last second, praying but there was nothing to worry about because he felt a chilling coldness swallow him from the tip of his toe, travelling up through the rest of the body. He felt his body crash against the cold floor, with Adalind still in his arms. He opened his eyes disoriented and closed them again, willing the dizziness away. When he opened his eyes a second time, he saw their son's crib to the right and grinned sheepishly to himself. It worked. He had made it through the portal and judging by the fact that he could wiggle his fingers and toes, he knew he made it through in one peace. He began to laugh.

It was some time later that he realised getting to Germany wouldn't be enough. They needed an exit strategy, to get as far away from Mater as possible. They had the element of surprise on their side, which could buy them enough time. He imagined that losing Diana would set Mater off and Nick needed to secure his family as quickly as possible. As he lay in bed, Adalind nestled against him, he looked around him and realised they couldn't come back to the loft. The fome was compromised more than once already. The loft was surely first place Mater would look for them and nick needed to put as much distance between him and the loft.

"Adalind…."

"Hmm?"

"We can't come back here…I mean when we get back, we can't stay here, not anymore. We are going to need to find a new place, somewhere far from here and everything that connects back to our old lives." He said.

"It did cross my mind, the loft isn't safe anymore but where will we go?"

"Anywhere but we need to make provision for that first before jumping through the portal. Tomorrow…I will sort something out, two days at the most…."

"Okay." She said solemnly and craned her head to let him bury his head in her neck. He loved it when she did that.

Every night they slept in that manner and every night Nick broke down her walls one brick every time. He was aware of how dangerously close he was pushing her and sometimes he felt she wanted him to, to see how far a gesture would go before she put up her walls again. He should have let it go and slept but like a boy, green and very much wet behind the ears, he imagined what it would feel like to touch her but he knew she would never let him, even if they were both on fire and desperately in need for one another. He should focus on setting up a safe house and getting their supplies, he thought purposefully while pushing down every other thought of Adalind wet between her thighs.

As if possessed, his hand moved from where it rested, against her abdomen, it slipped below and headed further south. Adalind stiffened but she didn't push him or his hand away. He got the answer he was looking for upon his hand reaching its destination. Then suddenly, as if all that gumption had deserted him, Nick froze. In truth, he never expected to get as far as he did, expecting Adalind to push him away as she had done on more than one occasion since he came back and now that he got as far as he did, he didn't know what to do. Sensing his hesitation, Adalind raised her thigh ever so slightly and gave him more access. She clearly wanted this as badly as he did. He slipped past her underwear and obliged.

"I love you." He said gently when she came.

He heard a surprised intake of breath.

"I love you." She replied.

Nick tugged her close against him and closed his eyes.

Several minutes passed when Adalind wriggled in his arms and turned.

He opened his eyes and found her looking straight at him.

"What about you?" She seemed to ask without saying a word.

He saw how she was flustered still from the fury of his fingers working her innermost core and bringing her over the edge and if he was any other man, he would have taken what he wanted and not cared one whit for the hesitation he sometimes saw in her eyes. He knew why she had worked to keep the distance between them, why she'd avert her eyes when he caught her staring at him, longing for him but hesitant. It was his eyes, what she saw in them even when he looking at her with nothing but love, she saw nothing more than a monster reflected back. No amount of coaxing or sweet words would change that. He wanted to look into her eyes and for her to do the same and see nothing but absolute love.

"When you're ready, you know where to find me. Let's go to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a very long day," was all he said.

*/*/*

They collapsed on the cold wooden floor of what he hoped was the Inn in Wolfach, Schwarzwald. After a moment to reacclimatise himself to his surroundings, Nick looked around but saw nothing that was familiar but then he and Monroe were only there for a few hours. From where he laid, the place looked abandoned and looking at the charred walls, he was surprised and equally grateful the portal opened at all. They left Portland at around 10:00am, which meant they jumped through the portal in the Black Forest just before sunset, giving them a twelve-hour window to find their children and escape back to Portland before leaving Oregon for good.

The plan was simple enough, drive to the same spot where Nick found the stick and he hoped that's where Diana and Kelly would be as well, at least it sounded simple when last they spoke as they planned their best and quickest escape plan. It all hinged on surprising Mater and keeping him focused on Nick the whole time.

"Are you alright?" he asked Adalind in the dark.

"Yeah…you?"

"Good but otherwise freezing."

It wasn't too surprising to find the weather so sever even though it was nearly July. Nick concluded that it had something to do with mater. Portland went through the same off-kilter weather phenomenon during the time he was still Captain at the CPP. If he needed confirmation of Mater's presence, he certainly found it.

Nick got up from the floor and lifted Adalind to her feet. She immediately opened the satchel they brought along to make sure its content was still intact.

"Nothing seems to be broken." She confirmed.

"It sounds like you brought more than the suppressant in there."

"Yeah, I also brought the Nuukh Suens for both Kelly and Diana for some back up. I want to make sure that bastard won't be able to use magic to find them once we leave this place." She said fiercely, her teeth clattering from the cold.

"Okay, let's get out of here, in case we aren't alone. We don't want to attract any attention for when we go back home." Nick said as he lead her out of what used to be a foyer into the back of the Inn, the service entry, that was better hidden by the surrounding buildings.

Once they were out on the street, he was taken aback by the decay of the once bustling yet quaint little town as he looked up and down the street. The sun had barely set but the streets were abandoned, not a soul in sight kehrseite or wesen. There wasn't even a car on the road which was a huge problem for them because to get to where they were going needed a vehicle and Adalind would not be able to handle the walk, in fact neither of them could if they ended up fighting Mater. For them to have a chance, they needed to preserve their energies for what would come after when they find their children. And although they were properly dressed, he suspected that this unnatural chill would hamper any progress they could make without covering up with another layer or two of clothing.

"This town is worse than I imagined. I'm going to have to look for a car, truck anything really. That hilltop is at least seven miles in that direction and it's going to get colder. We can't walk there." He told her.

Nick set out on his own, first heading west from the Inn. It was an hour before he returned to the Inn and Adalind had done some scavenging herself. She handed him a worn out scarf and heavy black coat with a gaping hole to the side but it didn't matter, it would so much to shield him where it mattered. She acquired a woollen hat and some gloves with fingers missing and nothing more than what she brought through the portal. Nick wasn't happy to see her so threadbare and took off the coat.

"No, you need more than I do. I've learnt to survive worse things than the weather. There's more than one way to stay warm." She stayed his hand, insisting he keep the coat. He nodded, accepting the coat but not without hesitation. Once satisfied, he went over their plan and contingencies several times. The truth was they really didn't know what they would find at the top of that hill, it could be nothing but regardless, Nick worried about Adalind's safety first, making sure that no matter what happened to him, that she…and their kids would make it out of the woods safely.

They slowly drove up the winding road without any headlights, arriving at the edge of the woods a little over thirty minutes later and switched off the engine. They would walk the rest of the way.

"You know what to do." It wasn't a question but he wanted to hear her say it.

"I wait here for a few minutes and then head in that direction, going straight until I come across a large twisted oak tree, then turn eastward where the woods incline upwards." She recounted the part of their plan where she would remain hidden until he can find Diana and Kelly.

"Whatever you do, do not come after me. Stay hidden until I send the children to you and even then don't wait for me, get down this hill as quickly as you're able and head back to the Inn and back to Portland. And burn the loft."

"Wait, that's not part of the plan. You said we would do this together, that we'd leave together."

"I know I did but I need Mater to keep his eyes on me for as long as I can manage it. What's important is Diana and Kelly. We get them to safety first. I can take care of myself…."

"How? Mater can't be killed, it will be better if I'm there with you."

"No! Please don't argue with me about this. I need you to trust me."

Adalind looked like she was about to say something but she bit her tongue.

"I'm sorry, but it's the only way." He tried to reason with her but he saw that she understood. She hated the idea but she understood.

He was going off on a hunch and nothing more. Nick hoped he was right because his family depended on it. He gave Adalind a kiss on the forehead, told her he would see her soon and stepped out into the cold, dank night. He made it to the massive but twisted oak and turned sharply towards the east, counting the minutes until finally reaching the top of the hill there was no hill. Nick took a false step and tumbled downwards until his body came to a full stop, luckily he managed not to knock his head against the surrounding tree stumps and rocks. He opened his eyes and was shocked to find a clearing instead of more woods but more than that, a dilapidated stone building stood in the centre of the clearing.

Nick did a quick survey of his survey of his surroundings; Mater must have excavated the church where he found the stick. He pricked his hearing, listening out for any suspicious sounds that he needed to be wary. He didn't want any surprises but he also didn't want to make his presence known, not before he could locate Diana and Kelly…if they were in deed there. He quickly got up and made his way to the entrance of the church, at least he hoped it was an opening, he couldn't tell with half of the church blown open wide. It wasn't much but the he managed to find some cover between the darkened walls.

He needed to search carefully, leaving no stone unturned before going down into the catacombs. And for a second, he was disappointed having found nothing that hinted at anyone ever being there but he refused to let the negativity fester because the last time he stood in that place it was several feet under hard solid ground and an entire forest above it. He went over and sometimes under some rubble before accepting that there was no one there. He heart began to race as he made his way down the shaft reminiscent of the shaft in his loft that led to the Shanghai Tunnels. That's when he heard it, voices. Someone was down there but he could determine who it was, whether it was a man, a girl, or even a small boy.

He hurried his steps but taking greater care not to make a sound. He had to get closer and listen more attentively. He thought of his children. Kelly should be about four years of age by now and he couldn't imagine how much grown Diana looked because of her ability to age very quickly. He balled his hands into fists as he thought of the time lost already, time he could not get back. He reached the bottom of the shaft and pulled out the blade he'd tapered to his back; his gun was a last resort even though he knew none of the weapons he brought would have any lasting effects on Mater.

He peered around the corner and saw two Drang-Zorns fighting over a kill. He pulled a dagger out and with lightning speed, he thrust it in the back of the neck of the Drang-Zorn closest to him and quickly swung his battle-axe into the abdomen of the wesen still shocked as he looked on his friend chocking on his own blood while his guts spilled onto the cobbled floor. Nick noted he died quicker than his friend did as he pulled the dagger and made a clean shave from ear to ear before the sound of death could alert anyone else of his presence.

Deeper into the cavern Nick went, twisting and turning along the way, dispatching every wesen that crossed his way, twelve in total. He was leaving a trail of bodies for anyone to find. If Mater wasn't on to him, he certainly was now so he moved a faster down the catacombs, hoping to reach his destination without any hindrances. He was getting closer to the furthest end of the catacombs and there was still no sign of Kelly and Diana. Nick began to lose hope noting one last cavern to search and dreading to have to return to Adalind and tell her he was wrong.

He entered the darkened cave, sticking closer to the walls but making sure not to touch anything in case the walls were riddled with skulls of fallen knights, disturbing even one of those skulls was out of the question. He had barely taken two steps when he heard some whispering. Whoever was down this cave, didn't want to be discovered which only interested Nick even more. He turned his heard and listened, focusing his attention in the direction from where the voices came. Nothing. He took several more steps towards the darkness and dared to speak, "Diana." He called out, his voice hushed but loud enough for her to hear it was he and not any of her captors.

"Diana." He repeated more insistently.

Something caught his eye, to his far left, two small violet orbs glowing fiercely in the dark.

"Da…." She began but a clinking of shackles muffled the rest.

His heart nearly leapt right out of his chest, as he simply couldn't believe it. He'd finally found her. He stumbled towards her and she caught him in a violent hug made of sweat, dirt and vermin but he didn't care he wrapped her into his arms and was afraid to let her go, as if she'd disappear as she was prone to do whenever they had disagreements.

"You're alive. And you came…." She cried into his shoulder. He wasn't leaning down, he noted. Diana was now as tall as her mother was, if not more.

"Of course I did. Kelly. Where's Kelly?" He asked desperately.

"He's here." She pulled away from him suddenly and disappeared into the darkness. Nick heard some more shuffling and clinking of chains as he battled to adjust his eyesight so he could better see in the darkness.

"You'll never guess who's here Kel-Bear, its' Daddy. He came to take us home."

"Dada," he heard his son's voice.

Tears were already streaming down his face in a hot torrent as he held his son his arms for the very first time in two years. But Kelly's sharp cry cut him sharply, "What's wrong?" He asked with fatherly concern.

"His arm is broken. I set it as best as I could."

Immediately, he saw red.

"Did he do this?" he asked Diana, her silence told him everything.

"Why?" He asked even though it was futile, Mater was a monster through and through, he's killed the people Nick loved and breaking his son's arms wasn't above a detestable creature like him.

"Because I refused to give him what he wanted." She said shamefully. "I am so sorry…I should have listened to you." she cried.

That bastard!

Nick could even let himself be angry at what Mater did, not when every second counted.

"Diana I'm going to need you to help me and get these chains off, can you do that?" He asked but she shook her head.

"I can't. I have tried but they are enchanted. My powers don't work down here."

"What do you mean they don't work?"

"It's how he's kept me prisoner this whole time, I can't use my abilities while he's away. It makes running away impossible when the entire town is bewitched. And when he's around he only wants one thing…if I resist him he hurts Kelly."

He felt his rage quickly bubbling to the surface just listening to her but there was no time to dwell on it. He had to focus on getting all of them out those catacombs and out of Wolfach.

"Alright then, I'm going to need your eyes, because I can't see well down here." He said as he searched his pockets for something to use to pick the locks and frustratingly he found nothing. He wondered if any of those wesen he killed on his way there perhaps had keys, probably not if what Diana said was true. Mater didn't need any keys if magic would do.

He swore.

"I've got nothing but I'm sure one of those guys has something I can use. I'm going to have to go back."

"No, please don't leave us." She yelped.

"I'm not, I won't be far. I promise. I just need something small and sharp, what I've got with me will hurt and make a lot of noise and it's important we don't do that. I don't know where Mater is and I don't want someone running back to him and letting him know that I'm here." He said painfully but disappearing the same way he came and stumbling across the last body of the wesen he had killed.

Nick wasted no time searching for keys, pins, anything metallic, and usable. There was a set of keys but nothing that looked like it opened the locks on a pair of chains, he eyed the key ring carefully and decided it would do, the only thing that looked promising before returning to the cave. Immediately he saw the glow of Diana's eyes and rushed towards his children. He laboriously fashioned a hook on the far end of the key ring and immediately began to work the locks, beginning with Diana.

He listened for the latch springing loose in one lock and then another, freeing Diana from her chains. Nick turned to his son and made a quicker job of it than he did with Diana. He picked up his son on one hand and took Diana by the other. The three of them began threading their way through the darkened maze and over all the wesen Nick killed to find them. He told Diana that her mother waited for her at the edge of the clearing with something that would make sure Mater never came after her again.

"The fairy dust from before?" She asked him.

"Yes but also something more as well, once you take it, you won't be able to use your powers again, at least not for a while, do you understand?" he asked her.

She nodded.

They finally made it to the surface unimpeded. He handed Kelly over to her and checked the clearing to make sure they were still alone. He saw nothing suspicious but was worried about Adalind. He gave her strict instructions if she followed them to the tee, she would be waiting for him to the west side of the clearing but would she know that when she clearly expected to go up a hill instead downhill. He hoped she was at the rendezvous site. Leaving this clearing was going to be a lot harder than climbing down and they needed to give Diana the suppressant as quickly as possible.

"I don't see anyone but that doesn't mean they are not there so keep your eyes open. You mother should be behind that tree line over there, on the count of three, I need you to make a run for it, don't look back. Kelly and I will be right there behind you, okay?"

"Okay." She complied.

He peered once more before turning back to Diana.

"Remember…on three, then you run. One…two…and three!"

Nick watched as Diana stumbled on her weaken legs but she made past the rubble and was the foot of the incline when he made his way clear of the church but something was wrong. He saw her standing at the edge but not moving. She turned around and faced him, with tears falling down her eyes.

"Diana what are you doing? Run!" he yelled.

"I can't. He's here," she cried, her face mapped with terror.

"Can you see him?" he asked her while looking all around them but saw nothing but trees.

"I can feel him. Please don't let him take me. Don't let him take me!" she begged him.

"He won't. I won't let him."

"No, you don't understand," she said, her eyes bulging fearfully at some unseen terror.

"Decapitare." Nick turned at the use of the old Grimm moniker. Instead of mater standing before him, it was the skull-faced demon.

"You!"

"In the flesh, or would you rather I looked more like you to help bolster that misplaced bravado that has you thinking that you can actually beat me?" Mater said as his visage took on a more human look.

"Let her go." Nick demanded.

"I'm sorry but I only make deals with people who actually have something I want. You have nothing I want; we concluded our transaction years ago remember?"

"You can take me instead, the one that got away. I know you killed everyone that possessed a part of that staff, everyone except me. That must grate on you, no doubt."

Mater didn't react but the fact that he didn't meant he considered Nick's offer at least.

"Just let them go and take me instead."

Mater grinned. "Why not? It's been a while since I had a serious workout and these primitives were beginning to bore me. I won't kill you just yet, not until the right moment. When I defeat you, I want you to see there's no escaping me, no place in the world where they can hide where I will not find them. I know you didn't come here alone. When I find your wife, this family reunion you hoped to get will evaporate into nothing. I will let your children go, give them a head start leading me right to that witch and when I catch them, you will watch helplessly as I peel the skin off your son slowly while he screams for his 'Dada' to save him but he won't.

"The witch will be next, I want to rip her heart right out of her chest and watch as the light fades from her eyes as I crush it to dust. Lastly, I will take you daughter in front of you. Like that bitch you love so much, she fought me but I'm done being patient. I will take what is rightfully mine and I won't need her anymore. Only then, will I be done with you, when you live long enough to watch this world burn to ashes at your feet and be helpless to stop it. Perhaps I will be merciful and end your life then…."

Nick heard Diana gasp and felt her collapse against his back. "Please…don't let him take me…." She whispered tearfully.

Nick turned around and handed Kelly over to her.

"Remember what I told you. Run as fast as you can and never look back. Find your mother, she knows what to do."

"What about you?" she cried.

"Knowing you're both safe is all that matters and…tell your mother I love her, that she and you two were the best thing that ever happened to me. I want you all to leave and not to wait for me, alright?"

"No!"

"Yes or we all die here tonight," he said, his voice harsh his eyes filled with love.

Adalind wasn't going to be happy but it was the only way.

"Now go!" he yelled. And he watched as she hiked her way out of the clearing. Nick prayed that his plan would work. It had to.

He forced himself to look back at Mater once Diana and Kelly were out of sight, the dense forest, shielding their escape even from him.

"Finally, it's just us two once more…." said Mater, knowing how this ends.

"Maybe you should stop talking and actually take your best shot." Nick prodded him as he stepped forward.

He felt a stinging pain enflame his left side, just below his ribs. Mater had zapped him using the staff. He could barely stand after that blast so why was he laughing, he thought wildly to himself.

"Oh look at that, the big, immortal, strong man has to rely on a magic stick to do his dirty little work," Nick mocked Mater.

Nick suspected he couldn't survive two, maybe three of those shots if he let Mater continue using his staff. The fight would be over long before it started and Adalind and the kids needed him to buy as much time as he could.

"Says the man with a battle-axe, a pistol several dagger hidden in several place on his body but you're right. You are clearly outmatched and I will be the gentleman and put away my toy, if you put away yours."

Nick watched as the staff shrunk, wobbled and swirled around Mater's wrist like some hipster wristband. He grinned to himself and rising to his feet, he disarmed. The last of his weapons hardly touched the ground before Mater was on top of him, pummelling him with punch after punch but Nick wasn't so easily taken before he started blocking Mater and landing s few punches of his own. Nick knocked his elbow against the bottom of his jaw before dragging mater by the back of his head to force contact with his knee, knocking him a couple of feet away. He may be immortal but he certainly didn't fight like one, thought Nick as he paced, using this brief moment of reprieve and catch his breath but Mater quickly got to his feet, a trickle of blood flowing down the corner of his mother.

Apparently, even immortals bled.

However, Nick didn't let that get to his head. Just because he bled like a man, didn't mean he was a man.

They scuffled for several more minutes before Mater delivered a crushing blow to the side of Nick's head but Nick refused to go down. It wasn't time yet, he thought. Nick knew he stood between mater and his family and he had to fight, even to his dying breath, if that what it took to save his family. Mater punched Nick hard against his stomach, one blow and then another before Nick collapsed to his knees. His body hurt like hell. He realised he was tiring when it took longer to get back onto his feet. But up he got and managed to slice across Mater's face, tackling him to the ground unexpectedly and landing as many furious fists as he could hoping Mater's human body was weakening as much as his but Nick had no such luck when Mater lifted him clean off his feet and over his head. Nick crashed hard against the rubble around them, knocking the wind out of him.

Mater got up onto his feet and towered over Nick.

"Why exert yourself Decapitare when you already know the outcome?"

Nick swivelled his leg and brought Mater down hard beside him when he punched his pointed elbow deep into Mater chest, drawing more blood. As Mater coughed up blood, Nick pushed himself back on to his feet, he too, spluttering his own blood in an effort to recoup while Mater was down. Nick used this brief lapse in their fight to gaze up into the trees. Did Diana make to Adalind in time? They should have made it back to the car and back to Wolfach by now. But if by some chance they were still in the forest, would he know whether or not Diana took the suppressant? The sound of movement drew his attention back to Mater, who looked worse for wear, but no more out for the count than Nick. He gave Nick a chilling smile as Nick watched every bruise he inflicted on Mater disappear in front of his eyes.

"I told you, you can't beat me."

In that moment, they heard a bone-chilling cry somewhere in the forest. Diana.

A blinding light swallowed the night, leaving Nick and Mater looking about them in surprise.

"Are you sure about that?" Nick looked back at Mater, unable to contain the smug look on his face.

Mater turned his face into the sky. After a few moments, he shot past Nick in visible fury, clearly unimpressed by the latest developments. Judging by the erratic manner of the beast that had just shown him disciplined control barely a minute ago, Nick assumed Adalind suppressant and Nuukh Suens worked. The bright light in the sky was probably Diana's Hexenbiest being suppressed, Mater had his back towards the part of the forest where the light originated, and without pinpoint the exact location, Mater's magic was out of luck.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief. He and Adalind were over the first hurdle but their family wasn't out of the woods yet, literally.

Mater rushed up the hill in the direction Diana took but Nick grabbed his weapons and headed in the opposite direction instead. The forest was thicker from this side but it was a shorter distance to the main road, where the light came and where he'd asked Adalind to park the car he stole from outside a bakery. He suspected Adalind waited until they had reached the car before giving Diana the potion. If she waited, she had five minutes to spare, ten at the most but he hoped she wouldn't risk waiting for him, not when they were so close….

By the time he got to the hill, he watched as the car sped away in the dark, with no head or taillights on, disappearing into the dark, the farther it got. Good, they managed to escape, he thought. He finally let himself collapse from sheer exhaustion and pain, the knowledge that Mater couldn't get his hands on his family a sweet by bitter pill to swallow. He thought of Adalind, Mater called her his wife but he never got a chance to ask her, not when he waited so long to tell her he loved her. And when they got their second chance, it seemed the further and further their dream got from them.

Now they were gone, at least they would be, so long as Mater couldn't find them. The thought of Mater suddenly roused him from the pine needle floor. Adalind and the kids weren't out of the woods yet, Mater was still after them and Nick's job wasn't done just yet. He dragged himself onto his feet and began to trek his way back into the woods, heading west; in the direction Mater was sure to come.

Nick waded his way through the thick forest, listening….

He finally spotted a disturbance in the distance, wesen, Blutbaden and Mater was in the midst of them. Nick pulled out his gun, aimed fired at the head of the first Blutbad, then the other two, killing them on the spot before taking a shot at Mater's wrist, blowing it to pieces before he could even think about using his staff. He put a bullet in Mater's thigh and cranium but unlike the Blutbaden, he didn't die. However, Nick did manage to slow him down. Diana and Kelly were shielded from anyone that would look for them but Adalind wasn't. Nick knew that he had to keep Mater's sniffer dogs down and out no matter what it took.

"Burkahrdt!" Mater screamed. "You are going to pay for this, I swear it. You will pay."

"That doesn't sound like a man who has everything." Nick yelled back but making sure to stay hidden.

He watched as Mater limped pathetically but not for long, because a new limb formed in the same place where Nick had shot the previous one but this time there was no fancy hipster wristband. A fully formed staff lay at Mater's feet. He picked it up and looked up into the sky for a second.

"They are gone," Mater said lowly under his breath, not expecting Nick to hear.

Nick could dance with jubilation if his back didn't hurt like hell. They were out of Germany but not out of Portland yet, they needed more time, he thought still.

"You are going to have to have to talk louder because I can't hear you," he lied.

"I said I wouldn't kill you. Well…" Mater said. "I changed my mind."

Suddenly, Mater wasn't a few feet in front of him anymore but was standing right behind Nick. He swung the staff, knocking Nick off his feet.

"But first I want to know what you did."

"…Like I'd ever tell you."

"What did you do?"

"What…is your stick not working anymore?"

He was pushing his buttons but Nick didn't care as long as he was there and not anywhere near the Wolfach.

"I beat you, the demon that can't be beaten. Can you actually believe it; a lowly mortal bested you at your own game."

"I wouldn't be so sure, if I were you." Mater blasted him his staff.

Nick just laughed it off. It was crazy but he realised he could handle anything Mater threw at him. As long as the angry scowl became a permanent fixture on his Mater, Nick knew he'd won. His life may be forfeit but his family would be safe. In the end, that's all that ever mattered to him.

Mater telekinetically pulled Nick towards him, not caring about the branches and fallen trees in Nick's way. No, his death would not be gentle, Nick thought sarcastically. He threw Nick this way and that, making sure he crashed violently across the thick forest. Nick lost count at the number of ribs he broke, let alone cracked. Nick, using what little strength he still had in his body, threw the small daggers at Mater but the demon flicked them all away as though they were nothing but irritating flies. When mater had him hanging a foot about the ground in front of his, he imagined his end had finally come.

"I could snap your neck without so much as a flick of the wrist, do you know that?" Mater sneered at him.

"But you won't?" Nick challenged him.

It finally dawned on Nick that he still had one bargaining chip, his own life. It's as he said, he didn't make deals with people who didn't have what he wanted. Mater couldn't kill him, not without making a trade for something he deemed more important, Diana. Nick realised that by staying alive, not only did he ensure his family's safety but he also made them as equally vulnerable as long as he remained alive. Nick pulled up his gun.

"You know that doesn't work on me," Mater said smugly.

"Who said anything about shooting you?" Nick lifted the gun to his temple.

"No!" Adalind screamed.

*/*/*

"Nick."

He woke from his dream with a start. For a moment, he didn't know where he was. But then he saw Eve lying on the bed.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Okay, I think. How long have you been here?"

"Since this morning. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was in the Spice Shop, I remember that."

"Rosalee and Monroe found you unconscious this morning. You were on the floor in the back room."

"Yeah. There was a mirror. I looked into it." She said and Nick's heart began to thump very loudly in his ears. It was as though he knew what she would say but hoped to be wrong.

"What did you see?"

"Me, at first. And then the face."

"The same one that you and I saw?" Please say no, he thought, eking out a measure of hope that he was wrong.

"Yeah, so I broke the mirror. Then I went to clean it all up, and all the pieces started coming back together. And then…it grabbed me."

"It came through the mirror?"

It was worse than he thought if the skull-faced man could reach out from beyond the mirror and choke Eve, it meant he wasn't far from coming out altogether and they had no means to stop him, heck, they didn't even know what he was. At this rate, every incident that involved him was escalating which meant they were running out of time.

"I think I woged. I did, and then I bit its arm. I don't really remember any more. Nick, I don't want to stay here. I have this feeling that... something is starting." She said with caution.

"I do, too."

"Whatever it is…I don't think we have a lot of time left…before it gets here."

He thought of the unsettling dream that was quickly fading. His back ached. His legs were stiff as a board, like he just fought long and hard against someone invincible…but it was only just a dream Nick thought as the images of the skull faced man flashed in his mind…just a dream…as all memory of that dream evaporated before Nick could catch it and make sense of it. A dreadful heaviness quickly settled in his heart. He couldn't shake it. Something terrible was about to happen and he wasn't ready for it, none of them were.

He drove Eve back to Monroe's and Rosalee's and bounded for home quickly afterward. It was never his plan to stay at the hospital all day but he lost all track of time. He thought back to how Eve got there in the first place, from the moment his aunt told him to end things with Juliette, Perhaps, he should have listened to his aunt after all, he thought regretfully. Had he not been selfish, Juliette would be safe, living her life, probably with some paediatrician and they'd move to D.C. where he'd open his practice or whatever anything but this constant threat to her life. But then his life would look very different too. There would be no Adalind or Kelly and Diana and suddenly Nick couldn't imagine his life without them, his family. When did they become his whole life, his very existence? Nick sighed. He accepted that he couldn't live without them and he would never even try.

He pulled the heavy gate of the lift upward, happy to finally be home. Adalind was setting the table while Diana was floating Kelly's blocks for his viewing pleasure.

"I'm home."

Adalind gave him a sweet smile before standing in front of him and planting a kiss on his lips.  
"Welcome home," she said and turned back to the table but he pulled her back into his arms and buried his face in her soft hair. Oh, how he missed her, he thought. It's only been a few hours but it felt like a lifetime. An oddly familiar pain stabbed him squarely across his chest but he didn't know why.

She tried to pull away from him but he held her even more tightly, "No. I just want to stay like this forever," He told her.

"Okay."

Nick lifted his head and looked at the kids playing, oblivious to the fear that had crept up to make residence in his heart. He wanted to scoop them into his but found it impossible to let Adalind go, so he beckoned Diana towards him, who looked up at him with curious eyes, seeing something behind them he couldn't articulate. As if reading his mind, she got up and joined him and Adalind in an embrace but Nick wasn't done. He lifted her chin up so he could see her face.

"Just this once," he told to her.

She gave him a the biggest smile to date and Nick watched as Diana lifted Kelly up into the air, floating him into his outstretched arm, to Adalind's surprise. Perfect. His little family hug was now complete.

"What's going on with you?" She pulled at his chin so she could watch him.

"I missed you, that's all."

"What more than that, you look like you've been through hell and back." She added.

"Maybe... Maybe I was in hell, I don't know but I am back and all I want to do is hold my family close to me, can I do that for just a moment."

Adalind eyed him carefully. He could see the wheels in her mind turning but decided against whatever she wad about to say, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Okay." She said and rested her head across his chest, listening to the feverish beating of his heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't plan for this chapter to be this long but I couldn't stop coming up with (morbid) ideas of this dream sequence/what if reality, if Nick had actually had given Zerstöre the stick. I wanted it to be very dark, to show how making deals with the devil always turned back to bite you in the rear end but the more I wrote the more I couldn't do it. I just couldn't kill Adalind all over again. It was painful enough the first time. There's not much to go after this, it may take a while for the next update but fear not, I intend to make it to the very end. Thanks for taking the time to read and please don't be shy with the reviews, it helps straighten the chararterisation in my head. Until next time, God bless you all.


	8. Tree People

Tree People

Adalind tiptoed back across the loft, joining Nick under the warm covers. Both her children were sleeping soundly she noted but unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for Nick. She long discovered that he was a heavy sleeper but not the restful kind, especially when something was troubling him. She'd become accustomed to his nightmares, he was a Grimm after all but ever since the day Eve landed in hospital, something changed. She sensed…something sinister that sent a chill down her spine, like catching a dark figure watching her in the corner of her eye but when she looked, the figure vanished. Maybe she was imagining things, she thought as she watched her man sleeping.

After moving into the loft, during the worst of Nick's nightmares, there were nights she was forced to wake him because she didn't know what else to do. He never said anything about what he saw when he closed his eyes at night and she never asked him, they were close and it was easy to guess knowing exactly what he faced every day when he went work. But times changed and so did they. Now she cared and wanted to know, she wanted to help ease his burdens but how?

She shuddered when she thought of Trubel, how hard it must have been for her growing up. She'd become a Grimm when she was barely a teen, an orphan, a bad enough situation but even worse for her kind without any true guidance at all, Adalind didn't know how she'd functioned, survived before finally meeting Nick. Nick, who only had his aunt and mother for a very short period, whatever they imparted to him, Adalind didn't know if it helped him or not, it certainly didn't keep the nightmares at bay. Just the other night, she couldn't take it anymore; something had to give, so she overstepped her bounds and suggested he see someone, a professional.

"And tell him what exactly?" He'd asked her sincerely.

A Kehrseite therapist had no knowledge of the wesen world, therefore useless to a Grimm, a wesen doctor would sooner cower under the table in fear of said Grimm, and even if one decided to counsel him, how could they reconcile doing their job properly knowing what Nick did every day of his life? Adalind knew her mother would curse her had she lived long enough to see her only daughter sympathise with their long-standing enemies but it couldn't be helped, not when she was head over heels in love with a Grimm and wanted what was best for him.

Adalind thought of when she made the choice to tell Nick about their son, she had been desperate, grasping at straws to ensure their son's survival. Although that decision never came lightly after what happened with Diana, Adalind took a chance on Nick and he surprised her, in a good way; and has continued to do so every day since, despite the little hiccup with Black Claw. She knew it was not any easier for him to take her in when he did, to go against every instinct in his body for the one he loved and in Kelly, they both found common ground.

Adalind had not only determined to be the best mother to their son but she also made the choice to make Nick's life easier after years of causing him nothing but trouble, it was the least she could do for him after what he did for her. And that decision changed the rest of her life in the most wonderful way imaginable. For the first time in her life, she fell in love and with the most honourable man in the world. Looking back, she was grateful she had swallowed what little pride she had, put aside her fears and hatred and in time, she has reaped so much more than she could have ever dreamed. The need to love him and therefore help him in any way she could quickly and thoroughly replaced the instinct and urge to hurt him in any way she could.

"Then talk to me," she had suggested with equal sincerity.

Adalind remembered the look he levelled at her in that singular moment that spoke volumes. It was one of the few times Nick Burkhardt had let down his guard and let someone see what he hid behind the stoical mask he habitually wore without fail. She saw his doubt, hope, and caution among other things before he slipped the mask back into place. Not yet, not ever, he seemed to say without even speaking and Adalind had to let him be. Nick never took her up on her offer. He wanted to carry his burdens alone. Adalind didn't like him shutting her out but she understood. He was a Grimm and she couldn't force him to open up. He'd come to her when he was good and ready, as he's done with everything else and her patience had been rewarded heftily.

She remembered that time Nick surprised her and actually opened up to her. A strange and wondrous sensation swept over her, "I thought I was gonna go crazy without you," he'd confessed, much to her delight. Those words set her whole body on fire, it would be days before the embers died only for Nick to fan them furiously back into flames. He made it both easy and hard for her to love him. Adalind took his hand. It was warm and clammy but she didn't care. Adalind pressed it lightly against her lips as she reminisced about the past, their life at the loft.

She looked up at Nick and saw a thin layer of sweat already had also covered his brow and Adalind steadfastly wiped it away. Adalind laid her ear over his heart and listened. His heart was beating at a normal rate, perhaps that night he might be spared, she thought. It pained her to lie helplessly as he battled whatever demons he faced on the other side. She wished she could find a way to slip through the defences of his mind and ease away his turmoil but it was impossible, even if her powers were at full strength, which they weren't, she could not be able to help him. Whatever he faced in his dreams, Nick was alone.

It wasn't long before he began to jerk, nothing serious but she hugged him close against her body, hoping it would somehow give him but Nick only jerk more urgently. She shook him once but he didn't respond. She tried again, calling out his name, but nothing.

"No! Stay with me…love you…Adalind!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and almost knocking Adalind aside.

He had a wild, stormy look in his eyes as though he didn't recognise where he was.

"Nick!" It's only me," she cried, flicking on the bedside lamp before rushing to his side.

"Adalind?" he said, unsure at first but coming to his senses and hastily pulled her against his chest, his arms wrapping around her like a vice.

"It's okay, everything is okay." She said, at least she hoped. "You had another dream," she added.

Nick let her go except for her hand, which he held tightly against his chest.

"Right…." He sounded drained.

She didn't like the sound of that.

"Yeah. You were talking in your sleep and then started tussling. That's when you jumped out of bed."

"I don't remember anything." He said but the furrowed brow said differently.

"Nothing?" she asked him, a little disappointed but she masked it well.

Nick had just uttered the words she had been longing to hear for months, that he loved her…maybe, not to her face but in a dream and now, he couldn't remember. Just her luck, she thought ruefully.

"I think maybe…I was trying to stop something from happening…." He began to speak but stopped just as quickly.

Adalind felt his whole body tense. She saw the distress behind his eyes and immediately rebuked herself for her selfishness, thinking of herself and her hurt feelings when something was bothering him.

"Nick, it's over now. It was only just a dream." She tried to reassure him.

"Then why does it so feel real?" He said quietly, his watering but he hastily blinked them away.

"Like a vision?" she asked, now very concerned. She'd never seen him like this, more importantly he never let her see him like this, vulnerable.

"Maybe…I think that's why I can't remember. Adalind, there's something happening, or maybe there's something that's about to happen. I think I see it in my dreams but the moment I'm awake, like smoke, it evaporates into thin air."

She eyed him silently as she did her best to keep the worry from swallowing her whole.

"My dreams…." He paused and looked at her before continuing. "You must think I'm a basket case by now with how frequently I keep you up at night."

"Actually, no. I wish you'd talk to me though, let me in that beautiful head of yours."

"You really don't want that, trust me." He said, shaking but not from the cold.

"Maybe I should be the judge of that. Let me in so I can show you that you're not alone," said Adalind as she wiggled her way back into his arms.

"That's easier said than done." He mused.

They remained silent for seconds, or maybe longer, holding one another at the foot of the bed, listening to the night sounds, the buzzing of the refrigerator, the zooming of a passing truck out in the street and nothing else but silence. There was so much that Adalind wanted to say but the right words just weren't there. It wasn't as if she had practice before. None of her previous relationships, romantic or otherwise, required Adalind to go beyond herself for someone else. Her own mother would spit in her face for even thinking about it but Catherine Schade wasn't around to reproach her anymore for her lapse in Hexenbiest decorum or lack thereof.

They settled back on the bed, side by side, as they often did. It had become a sort of ritual of theirs, an opportunity to unburden themselves when something weighed too much for either of them to keep bottled up any longer.

"I know I don't have the best track record where you're concerned but I really would like to be there for you, if you would only let me." She pleaded with him.

"…But you shouldn't have to…I mean…ugh! This isn't coming out right. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not really good at letting people in. I want to, believe me but these last few years…"

"Say no more. I get it…" she interrupted him.

"No, you don't. I haven't exactly had the best life since I was twelve and I did my best to piece together some sort of normalcy until…"

"…Until one sunny afternoon on 5th Avenue where you were minding your own business but then spotted this crazy blonde Hexenbiest."

"Yes, I mean no! Sort of…." He relented because it was the truth. It hurt but it was the truth and there was no hiding from it where she was concerned. He didn't have to explain any further.

"I know what you're thinking." He spoke after a moment too long of the silence between them.

"Am I wrong?"

"About this…yes. It's not about you. It's me. That's sounds awful but that's the truth. You asked me to open up to you before and I didn't because the last time I did that, I ruined Juliette's life with my crap that I could barely deal with. My aunt tried to warn me but I didn't listen. Juliette…Eve, whatever name she calls herself is paying the price for the life I live. I was selfish then and I'm being selfish now."

"…But I am not Juliette." She said, her heart pounding in her ears.

"I know," he smiled at her, grazing her knuckles with a soft kiss. "But I'm still me. I'm the one with the issues."

"Please…I'm the president of the club when it comes to having issues." She quipped, trying to lighten the mood, which had turned heavy all of a sudden.

"Nick if I am overstepping, just say it and I'll keep my peace."

"No." he said but more to himself than to her. "I swear it never used to be this bad." He said as he raked his fingers through his bed hair. It only flattened for a second before springing back to its unruly state. Adalind's own hands twitched just watching him, resisting the pull to muss it up even more but this wasn't the time for that.

"I'm a Grimm. But I wasn't always one. As a cop, I followed the rules, chased down criminals, arrested them and put them behind bars for a very long time, your run of the mill life of a Portland detective. I was good at being a cop. I can count on one hand the number of people I killed before that sunny afternoon on 5th Avenue where I was minding my own business until I spotted this sexy blond lawyer across the street." He grinned. "As a Grimm, I have lost count on the number of kills I've made. I'm very good at being a Grimm." He said, stressing the last sentence for emphasis.

Now she understood, at least she thought she did.

"At first, I tried to be more the cop and less the Grimm, foolishly."

"No, not foolishly. I did the same, when I was younger. I'm a Hexenbiest and there aren't exactly many prospects for us to be anything but….You, you're a good man, the best that I know. I don't doubt for a second that the people you faced were very bad people. There's evil in the world Nick, it takes one to know one after all."

"Don't say that."

"Let me finish. I know what it feels like to be pulled this way and that because of what we are but I've learnt that it doesn't define who we are and you taught me that. You're beating yourself up for the choices others made, focusing only on the bad and forgetting about all the good. How many people have you saved Nick? Countless, I'm certain."

"It doesn't keep me from seeing the faces of all the dead." He said.

"I know." She said, resigned.

"…But this is different, these dreams. I think they started when I returned from Germany with the stick."

"Okay…."

It didn't shock her, it seemed everything circled back to the stick, she thought sarcastically, from the symbols on the cloth, to Eve almost crossing over because the stick healed her, to whatever was on the other side of the mirror coming after her and there was Nick's attachment to the stick. He had tried to brush it off as nothing and left the stick in its hiding place down in the tunnels and with good reason but without knowing where its power came from, none of them really knew if it was for good or evil. But everything was coming to a head and they needed to be ready.

"It's strange to think of regular recurring nightmares as something ordinary but this was different. It starting on the day we went to Columbia Gorge Hotel for Monroe's birthday. That's when we saw the skull man in the mirror. Then Eve landed in the hospital and I think that's when I saw him again but in a dream, a nightmare, a vision, whatever you want to call it. I don't remember the specifics, just like now but I know it was about him."

"Are you sure?" she asked as she thought of the things he said before in his sleep. She couldn't help but remember the desperation in Nick's voice as he cried out, "Stay with me…Love you," it thrilled her to hear those words but then he screamed her name. He was dreaming of her, it didn't sound like it was about the skull man but then she couldn't explain Nick's agitation before and after he woke up. Perhaps he was correct. Maybe the skull man had also been in his dream and an unpleasant picture formed in her mind….

"What is it?" He asked, sensing her change of mood.

"It's nothing." She tried to evade his questioning.

"It's obviously something. I can see the wheels in your head already turning,"

"Do you want water? I need some water. I'm going to go get some…" She said springing from the bed but Nick quickly held her back, pulling her by her wrist and leading her back to the spot beside him. If Nick was clueless before, he was definitely on to her now. Whenever Adalind was nervous, she blabbered like an idiot.

"Adalind, I know I'm not the most forthcoming person in the world."

"You could have fooled me," she teased him.

"I'm trying to be serious."

"I'm sorry." She apologised.

"I know we promised to do things differently, to work on the trust and I haven't exactly lived up to my end and you've been nothing but patient with me. I know it's not fair of me to ask you something I haven't been able to freely give, so please…."

"Alright…." She said reluctantly. "You were dreaming about me." She finally spoke, which took him by surprise.

"No, I'm certain it was the skull man, I can still feel him…close." He said, straightening his back muscles.

"Nick, you were talking in your sleep. I heard you say my name just before you woke up." His grip tightened around her hand as the words sunk in and came to the same conclusion she did only minutes ago. She never thought of the first part that she heard, 'Stay with me….'Adalind knew she'd never again leave Nick, not after Black Clack….

"I won't let anything happen to you." He said suddenly, his voice forceful…his demeanour, possessive.

"And I won't let anything happen to you." She mimicked his words and meant them.

It was on her lips to tell him she loved him but she bit her tongue, afraid to pressure him to respond in kind, even though it wasn't her intention. Only in his dreams did he have loose lips, beautiful lips so she settled for a kiss instead. He cradled her head in both his hands deepening their kiss and causing her whole body to tingle.

"I…I need you…." He said kissing her, his stubble grazing her smooth skin.

It wasn't the words she longed to hear. However, they were no less true even for her. He pulled her towards him so she could sit on his lap, straddling him as he showered her with gentle, feather-light kisses while his hands kneaded her firm round cheeks. His whole body was shaking and Adalind was too lightheaded to determine the cause. He neededher and judging from the stiff pressure beneath the centre of her soft cotton pyjama pants, he wanted her just as intensely. And she wanted him too. She could never deny it and she would never want to. Adalind felt her hips sway from side to side, making small concentric movements as the tension built from the core of her being, flaring to the outer extremities of her body and soul. Yes, she wanted Nick and so much more than she expected and she would pour out on him all of the love she never dreamed to have for any man, much less a Grimm.

Adalind caressed the rugged sides of his face, using her fingertips to map every contour, memorise every line on his precious face before circling to curl two fist-full of his dark hair and pulling his head back so she could better explore his lips, his tongue, the sweetened gateway to her bliss. The kiss was long, deep and salacious. A deep sensuous groan rumbled at the back of his throat, Adalind was only too happy to swallow it and many more such expressions of need in his kisses. They were hers and nobody else's and Adalind became drunk on each and every one of them, the gyration of her hips became desperate and erratic as her hunger for more overcame her senses.

"Slow down," Nick said after breaking free for just a puff of air managed to say, his breathing was short and heavy.

"Shut up and kiss me," Adalind whined in disappointment at the separation, she crashed her lips hard against his, taking his bottom lip between her teeth, soliciting an even deeper groan from Nick. The heat where their bodies met roared into raging flames. Nick's sex demanding an audience and Adalind was ready and willing to feel him, long and firm inside her walls.

"Hmmm…Nick…I need you…right now," she whined, breathless and eager for him.

Nick pulled his hands from Adalind's twitching bottom and slid them between their heaving chests to find rest on both her breasts. He squeezed them through the cotton fabric and grunted in frustration because the shirt hindered him from his true goal, to feel her skin between his fingertips. His hands quickly found their way under her shirt continuing the same ministrations of kneading, and pinching her small nubs first. Adalind moaned in acute pleasure but she wanted more, more of his kisses, his touches, more of him inside of her or else she would explode but Nick was determined to take his time, her desperate cries falling on deaf ears. Eventually he too couldn't take it anymore because he pulled at the hem of her top and Adalind swiftly lifted it free above her head and chucked far across the room. Nick did likewise right after, he swivelled them both in one movement so Adalind laid flat on her back on the bed, her hands pinned to the side while he kneeled between her open legs.

Adalind squeaked excitedly at the impressive power and swiftness of his hands. Despite the darkness of the loft, Adalind could see the swirling storm of passion and desire in his eyes from the sliver of light filtering through the metal shutters covering the windows. He looked like her Nick but every bit the predator he was and she was his prey but instead of fear, she felt an intoxicating thrill ravaging, no, searing her entire body with fire that burnt only for him. Without a shirt to tug on, Adalind grabbed is sweatpants and pulled Nick do he laid atop of her full length his heat radiating and colliding with hers as their lips made contact. Adalind's hand made its way between them and down his hard stomach until she found her target, slipping her hand past his pants and briefs to curl her dainty fingers around his length and held him tight. Nick released a pained grunt of encouragement. He buried his face in her neck, grinding into her hands, which she tightened and released timeously.

Nick quickly swiped her hand away from him, pinning it and the other once more to her side causing her chest to heave more rigorously. Adalind grinned at him.

"I won't last long, if you keep doing that." He breathed into her ear.

"So what do you plan to do about it?" She asked, pressing her hips against his.

"This," he groaned before suckling on her lobe, down the sensitive hollow of her neck, collarbone, to the crevice between her two mounds and then their hardened twin peaks, giving them each special undivided attention. When satisfied, he made his way south, pulling Adalind's pyjama pants, leaving a trail of wet kisses along the way. As Adalind lay on the bed, squirming from his heated gaze, Nick discarded the last of his clothes and joined their bodies in a blazing crescendo of power and wanton passion.

"That was…"

"…Perfect." He sighed, sated.

Nick kissing the crown of her head, drawing her frame close to his so their bodies melded together in the aftermath of their coupling. Adalind curled her arms around his waist, burying her face in his sturdy chest and basking in the glow of their lovemaking. She listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart as it came down from its dizzying high, her favourite sound in the world. She loved to listen to its slow beating as it lulled her to sleep. When she heard it, she knew he was safe, in her arms and there was nothing to fear, not Sean or Black Claw, not whatever new wesen monster lurked in the dark unseen.

*/*/*

Adalind stirred at the tingling sensation of Nick drawing circles low on her back, lingering between her dimples.

"…Morning." He said, waking her with a chaste kiss.

"Hi." She smiled up at him.

His lower half was already stirring and she imagined it would be a very good morning….

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Good but I really should be asking you that question."

"I had another dream…."

Her heart sank with dread.

"I don't know where I was but it was hot, so hot and very humid that I didn't have a shirt on, or anything else for that matter. It was white everywhere and even though the sand was getting into places I'd rather not talk about, I was lying flat on my back and a certain woman caught me between her thighs. Her beautiful blond hair fanning around my head as our lips touched just like this…." He kissed her.

"Nick!" Adalind feigned indignation at his misdirection but she couldn't hide her ear to ear wide grin.

"God you're so beautiful," he breathed, pinning her under him.

"You're not so bad yourself Detective Burkhardt," she giggled when he expertly slipped his hand behind her left knee, causing her to lose focus.

First, he kissed her softly then sweetly and then he kissed her with so much passion it made her toes curl, leaving her flushed and completely breathless.

"I think it would be best to stop or risk waking up the kids." She sighed.

"Mommy!"

"Too late." He laughed, stating the obvious.

Adalind lifted her head from the pillow and watched the two wooden doors leading into their bedroom, hoping they'd remain shut. She wasn't ready to have 'the talk' with Diana just yet especially when it involved Nick rather than her actual father. She was more than thrilled to have her daughter back in her life but it was in moments like this, she wished it were Sean's turn to be with Diana so she and Nick could have some quality time together. Because of Nick's schedule, he either came home late or left early in the morning. Waking up in each other's arms or rather more specifically, sleeping in in one another's arms was becoming an impossible feat with each passing day. On Nick's days off, their mornings no longer belonged to them alone but instead to two demanding children.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Diana yelled much more forcefully just behind the door, and for a split second, Adalind actually considered letting Diana make her own breakfast but quickly rebuked herself over the hypocrisy of the thought.

"I'm coming," replied Adalind before she let her head sink back on to the cushy pillow in part exasperation and part shame.

She could remember the day Diana let slip that she habitually baked cookies or prepared food for Sean, although Diana insisted her father had been present every time, Adalind had been furious with Sean for letting their four-year-old cook for him. She didn't care that he helped, it was simply irresponsible very reckless of him. Diana was a very powerful Hexenbiest, more powerful than anyone Adalind knew but that didn't stop Adalind from worrying about her daughter, her well-being.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to finish this some other time," she said sheepishly.

Nick was about to say something but Kelly's cries cut him short.

"Right, I guess I'll have to wait in line for your undivided attention." He brushed the tip of his nose against hers. "But seeing that you can't do two things at once, I'll go and make Diana her breakfast while you tend to this little guy."

"Are you sure?" She didn't mean to say that aloud. It wasn't that she didn't trust Nick with Diana, but her daughter had more than made her feelings clear on the subject of wanting both her parents together. Adalind had quickly talked her out of such thoughts and ideas after the incident with her voodoo dolls but she couldn't be sure Diana fully accepted it. Adalind has never left her daughter alone with Nick, fearful of him suffering a similar fate as Sean's mistress, Rachel Wood.

"We'll be fine." He assured her.

She eyed him carefully, uncertain but she could see that he'd made up already.

"The guys will be here shortly anyway, to talk about that thing," he added cryptically but she knew what he meant.

"I know." She said.

Rosalee and the rest of Nick's friends were coming to discuss the skull man, to regroup after the day he partially came through the mirror and choked Eve. It was a few days since she landed in hospital and although everyone did they best, they were all worried about what it all meant. Could the skull faced man cross over to their side completely? And if so, what was his end goal?

"Just this once, can't we have a normal day without care or worry that something's lurking in the dark?" She added.

"Normal…a Hexenbiest and a Grimm?" He looked at her sceptically with a touch of mischief, which was a rarity for Nick in those days.

"I know, not possible but a girl sure can dream." She sighed regretfully.

"Like a white sandy beach somewhere…." He proded.

"MOM!"

"Coming!" They both yelled at the same time, causing them to laugh the tension, sexual and otherwise, away.

"Let's get dressed before both children tear this loft apart because of hunger and the fact that I have their mother trapped between me and this bed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this little chapter. Apologies for the late update.


	9. Blind Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bonus chapter, written for Phoebe1810 from ff.net , I hope you all enjoy.

"Nick."

It's Eve.

"Oh. Hi." He said dismissively.

He wasn't in the mood to talk to her at that moment, not when he wanted to find Rosalee so badly, to finish their conversation.

"Thank God I found you." She said breathlessly. "Thank God it's not too late."

Nick looked at her as though she'd grown a second head but he honestly didn't have time to deal with her.

"Do you feel that?" She asked, her hands roaming over his chest uninvited.

"Feel what?" He asked in a quite brusque manner.

"There's never been anyone else for me. There never will be. To think we almost threw it all away." She went on, much to his annoyance.

"What?"

Okay, she's definitely lost her mind, he thought impatiently and before he could break it to her and remind her that it was over between them, way over in fact, Eve grabbed him and forced their lips to touch.

What the hell was going on with her?

Nick grabbed her shoulders and managed to push her away from him.

"Eve, stop that!" He said forcefully, desperate to maintain a respectable distance between them but she clung to him like a bad odour.

"No Nick, don't you see? Fate brought us back together." Eve insisted.

"No it didn't!" he said, side stepping her when he realised she would not quit with her awkward confession. Where was Rosalee, his true love? He had to find her and get away from Eve and her strange behaviour. Unfortunately, for him Eve refused to let him go that easily so he picked up his pace and was soon running back into the hotel away from her.

And as if fate was smiling down upon him, Nick found his ladylove. She was caught between Monroe and Adalind. He had to get her away from them.

"Rosalee." He called to her, a spring of love and adoration over flowing from his heart and soul the second her eyes locked with his. Surely, she could sense it, he thought wildly. She had, his love for her was earth shattering but someone tugged at the back of his shirt.

"Nick!" Eve yelled for him. Not again, he sneered.

"Eve," said Monroe.

"Monroe! Monroe!" cried Adalind helplessly.

Even yanked him back and tried to pull him into a hug.

"What is wrong with you?" Nick spouted indignantly, attempting to shove her away from him.

"Nothing, now that we're back together." She replied.

Together? It was long over between them. Why couldn't she understand that? All he wanted was his Rosalee and Eve holding him back not only was annoying, it infuriated him but he wasn't the only one incensed.

"What do you think you're doing? You dumped her!" Monroe lashed at him furiously.

"I did not." Nick corrected him.

"Monroe, please." Adalind interjected herself in the scuffle.

"She's mine. Now and forever." Monroe said about Eve, breaking free of Adalind's hold on him. Well, if he wanted her, he could have, at least it would keep her from stalking after him irrationally, Nick thought, already aggravated because so many bodies were now standing in his way from reaching his intended. Monroe, Eve, Adalind. Why couldn't they just leave him alone, that's all he wanted, that and to hear Rosalee's sweet voice requite his love for her.

"No, no, I'm Nick's." Eve said, as her grip on his arm grew firm and hot.

"She's not yours. I'm yours." Adalind whined towards Monroe, who clearly wasn't interested in her.

"You need to back off!" Nick yelled at his now former friend.

"You need to back off." Monroe parroted the sentiment.

Nick's patience was wearing thin. There was a baby crying in the background, adding to his aggravation. He doesn't know how long the wretched exchange played out. It didn't matter what he did to try to escape the foray, someone's hands were constantly dragging him back into the middle of it, whether it was Eve trying to force herself on him or Monroe trying to fight him over her, despite Nick clearly stating that there was absolutely nothing between him and Eve, not for a long time.

"We were meant to be together!" Adalind's shrill voice told a stubborn Monroe, snapping Nick back to the present.

"No, we weren't!" Monroe countered sternly.

"Rosalee!" Nick finally pleaded but she just stood there, her face aghast.

He suddenly heard a baby cry. He got louder and louder, Nick noted. Where were his parents? Why weren't they tending to him? The judgemental thoughts distracted him but only temporarily. This was a hotel, a formal establishment for crying out loud and not some unruly day-care! And from the look around hi, only Nick was the one aware of the wailing baby. Everyone else was preoccupied, including him. Sweet Rosalee, he thought lovingly as he tried climbing over Monroe and Adalind literally.

"Nick, don't!" Cried Eve "God, now look what you've done." Eve turned her ire towards Adalind. "It wasn't enough to steal Nick from me. It wasn't enough to have the baby that should have been ours." She spat at Adalind, which was inaccurate, he thought dismissively. Adalind audibly gasped. It finally dawned on him that the baby wailing desperately somewhere nearby was probably his son but being with Rosalee seemed so much more important. Once they got a chance to talk, Nick was certain Rosalee would be more than happy to be his new mother.

"Back off, you crazy bitch." Adalind said viciously, once again, drawing him back to reality. He saw her lunge at Eve, who was ready for her because Nick watched as Adalind flew across the hall and her back slammed hard against the opposite wall. Nick felt a tinge of something in the pit of his stomach at the sight of Adalind sprawled on the floor that caused him to pause but then she was quickly on her feet again. And something like relief washed over him but it passed just as quickly when his eyes landed on a shocked Rosalee. He lamented at the distress written all over her face. He had to get to her, to comfort her, to love her….

"Rosalee!"

"I thought you were my friend." Monroe said; his words accusatory but Nick had done nothing to Monroe. All he wanted was to be with Rosalee. He wasn't responsible for Eve.

"Rosalee please…." Nick exclaimed.

"I thought you were my friend, Monroe said, his voice accusatory.

It's then that everyone started yelling over everyone else, their bodies entangled in a mad dash to get to someone else. What did he care for Eve? Monroe could have her. As for Adalind, it wasn't Nick's problem that Monroe wasn't giving her the time of day he thought, well and truly exasperated but the entire exchange. It was her life and she was free to love whomever she chose. Kelly's cries were now deafening but Rosalee was so much closer, all he had to do was reach out for her and everything would be all right, he reasoned. However, she'd turned her attention to a barely dressed Hank who appeared from nowhere. Nick fumed at the sight of the two of them wrapped in each other's arms.

Betrayal!

Hank was supposed to be his friend. He was a dead man Nick thought, as soon as he could extricate himself from those three, particularly Eve. "I don't want to be with you, leave me alone!" he yelled at her but he may as well have been whispering sonnets in her ear from the way she was acting. Adalind and Eve began flinging insults at one another, Monroe wanted to pummel him for something he wasn't guilty off but then Hank yelled suddenly, "Do you hear me?"

Only he didn't, none of them did except for his Rosalee. They all stood in shock as they watched Hank sway past them towards the mirror hanging on the wall beside them, singing a Marvin Gaye tune seductively at his own reflection. He looked like he'd lost all sense.

"Oh, my God. It's the Amor de Infierno," he heard Rosalee speak but more to herself than anyone in particular.

"Rosalee my love, please…." Nick begged but it fell on deaf ears as she quickly ran down the hall and out of sight. He wanted to run after her and show her how much he loved her but things became so heated, like a twisted tug of war of human bodies, instead of a rope all being pulled apart in different directions, they were all pulling at one another and yet desperate to get away from each other at the same time.

He doesn't know who threw the first punch; the scuffle had escalated into an all-out brawl. Nick pinned Monroe but Adalind quickly stepped up to him and knocked him hard on the side of his face. For a tiny woman she sure packed a mean left hook, he smiled drily. Unfortunately, Eve came to his defence and slapped Adalind across the face, screaming for Adalind to leave him alone.

"You leave him alone," she repeated with venom. "Or I'll kill you, which is something I should have done a long time ago." Eve blurts out furiously but Monroe hastily swallowed up her ranting in a sweeping kiss.

"ROSALEE!" Nick bellowed in anguish.

"NO!" cried Adalind at the sight of Monroe kissing Eve.

Adalind swiftly pulled Monroe away from Eve, causing Eve to fall with unceremoniously to the floor.

"How dare you?" Monroe growled at him as though Nick was to blame for what happened with Eve.

Nick was stunned and slow to react as Monroe pounced on him because he'd been distracted by the two Hexenbiests at each other's throats but Nick soon had the upper hand. Pandemonium had ensued but Hank, the odd man out serenaded himself shamelessly in front of the mirror. The scene was crazy, if not comical.

Monroe woged and immediately evened the scales as he threw Nick around, slamming him hard against the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces, much to Hank's shock and despair. He never even saw what happened to either Adalind or Eve when a singular thought surged through his mind, the thought of killing Monroe but it seemed his former friend had a similar thought as he raised his sharp claws for a killer blow and then nothing.

Nick felt something like a gush of wind literally sweep away the heavy fog clouding his and for a moment, he didn't know where he was.

Monroe promptly woged and dropped his hand in visible shock at what he was about to do.

"Oh my God," he heard Adalind say but his head was too foggy to be certain.

"What happened?" Monroe asked.

"I don't know," he heard Eve's voice.

"I don't feel so good," Nick finally murmured, his mind and body spent, from what, he didn't precisely know.

"Why was I crying," Hank asked in bewilderment.

Nick looked about him. The hallway looked like a tornado had ripped through it. There was furniture upended, broken glass everywhere and everyone looking worse for wear. Eventually the haze in his mind evaporated into nothing and that's when he finally saw her….

"Adalind," said Nick with heartfelt regret, walking towards her.

"Nick," She said with equal feeling before he pulled her into a hug.

He sighed with relief. The smell of her scent whirled around him and engulfed his senses as he drank her in, losing himself in her arms, which like a balm, soothed his frayed mind. What the heck just happened? He wondered to himself. Then it all came back to him. Why did he want to kill Monroe? What had caused him to be so enraptured by Rosalee when it was Adalind whom he loved? Whatever happened, Nick was relieved it was finally over and happy to have Adalind back in his arms, after that horror show from the twilight zone.

"Oh my God, what have I done? I love you." Monroe confessed to his wife. Nick turned his head and saw her standing just a few feet from them, expectant.

"You haven't done anything. It wasn't your fault," said Rosalee reassuringly.

Nick looked away from the married couple, turned his head back to Adalind, who'd buried her head in his chest. She eventually lifted her eyes to meet his, "I'm so sorry." They both spoke at once, both clinging to the other and after that harrowing experience they were both wary of letting the other go.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Adalind apologised, looking rather embarrassed by her actions from earlier.

"I'm thinking I rather deserved it," he added plainly.

"It was the Amor de Infierno." He heard Rosalee matter of fact voice.

"What? But only a Cupiditas can do that and there's only one way to break that spell." Adalind explained.

Wesen, of course, thought Nick. It was always a wesen involved.

"Yeah, I know. He took a bit of a fall." Rosalee informed them.

"Oh my God, Kelly…where's Kelly!" exclaimed Adalind suddenly and without hesitation bolted down the hall and Nick was hot on her heels. A wave of shame and regret like a hot knife stabbed Nick in the gut at the thought of his son whom he left crying alone while they squabbled like teenager, spell or no spell. Adalind reached the stroller a breathed a sigh of relief before freeing him from it. Kelly had cried himself hoarse, his wailing whittled down to muffled cries for lack of attention.

"Oh my sweet baby, Mommy's so sorry!" Adalind cried, apologising profusely for abandoning him. Nick held them both in a warm but tight embrace, his own guilt eating him up inside. And as if to make his point, Kelly began crying anew, no doubt upset with both his parents for their desertion of him as much as the spectacle happening only a few feet away from him.

"It's okay my darling, we will never leave you again." Adalind said soothingly, cooing and rubbing the back of his small frame while she hugged him tightly against her chest. Nick lead them both back into their room and closed the door behind him.

"Nick, what if something had happened to him and we lost him?" Adalind said, her voice thick with emotion.

"But we didn't." He said, his voice hollow at the small comfort.

He knew that but it would not help either of them to imagine the worst. Kelly was safe. They had to focus on that. Unfortunately, he couldn't take his own advice. Nick thought about the Cupiditas, how he wished he could get his hands on him and meet out some Grimm justice. He remembered the waiter that served them Champaign just the night before, how he had this uneasy feeling about him from the moment they arrived at the hotel. It was probably him, he thought furiously. It explained why only their group seemed affected that morning.

He couldn't help thinking that it was his fault somehow. He was together with Adalind with their friends celebrating life for once in their lives but somehow trouble always bounded towards them like a bullet train and he was always at the centre of it. He watched Adalind bat away hot tears, unable to let go of their son even for just a moment. His hands clenched into fists. Nick could have lost her and Kelly in one fell swoop, the searing thought crossed his mind, unbidden and razor-sharp.

"He is safe," he told Adalind. "You're okay…we'll be okay." He assured her as he hugged them both once more, overwhelmed by what could have been.

A loud rapt at the door caused Adalind to jump.

"Nick."

It was Hank.

"Yeah?"

"The cops are here."

"I'll be right out." He told his partner. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He said, turning back to Adalind but hesitated at the last second.

"Go, we'll be fine." She assured him.

Nick kissed Adalind on the lips and then the top of Kelly's fluffy crown that was somehow caught between his mother's sun kissed colouring and his dark shade; he turned and left the room to give his statement to the police.

*/*/*

He finished giving his statement and joined his friends, who waited for him in the drawing room. He explained to them why someone almost been ruined their weekend. Apparently, the waiter had been the very bitter son of a man he'd arrested about a year before he became a Grimm. It explained why Nick had recognised him but couldn't put a name to the face. Nick apologised to Monroe and Rosalee.

"Please, it's gonna take a lot more than that to break up this group," said Monroe.

"…And this party is just getting started." Rosalee finished, hugging Monroe to her. "Where's Adalind, I haven't seen her since…"

"She's still a bit cut up over Kelly." He told Rosalee.

"Oh, I understand. I'm going to go up and see her," Rosalee told her husband before giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm sure she'd appreciate that. I'll be there shortly," Nick said and watched her disappear round the French doors leaving the four men alone.

"Guys I'll see you all later, there's something I need to do." Said Wu cryptically and left the same way as Rosalee.

"I guess we'll all have a funny story to tell our kids one day," quipped Monroe half-heartedly.

"Speak for yourselves. I'm not planning to have any mini versions of me running around any time soon when I can barely take care of myself." Hank said with finality.

"You never know, someone may just come along and convince you otherwise."

Hank snickered, "Not after four failed marriages and Black Claw Zuri. In a way, I should be relieved that I was so enamoured with myself today, no disappointments," he joked.

"Uh…until Nick broke the mirror, dude you should have seen your face," Monroe and Nick both laughed at the memory.

"You both laugh but I realised there's merit to a life of bachelorhood. I mean I can't even imagine what you must be thinking after this morning," Hank said pointedly towards Nick.

"Yeah, not to poke a sleeping bear here buddy but what was that? I mean, I know we were all out of it. You with Rosalee, Adalind with me…." Monroe let the thought linger between them for moment. Nick knew exactly what they were asking and until a second ago, he'd blocked everything from his mind the second he saw Adalind and took her into his arms.

"You said it yourself, we were all out of it," he coughed.

His two best friends gave him a look that challenged that perception. What could he say? Nick realised, to an extent, that everything he told Eve during their wesen induced, drugged state was true, everything…well almost. He didn't love her anymore, not as he used to. They were over but he still cared deeply for Juliette, correction, for Eve's well-being and now his friends put him on the spot because everything in his life always seemed so messed up, it's a wonder he was still standing.

When Juliette first came back as Eve, Nick had been angry with her for many things, such as his mother's death, angry for what she almost did to Monroe. He was also angry over her supposed death, which was nothing but subterfuge, angry with her for being so detached from her old life. And truthfully, he'd been angry because had she not left him, he'd never have fallen for Adalind. By the time Eve left him flabbergasted in the restaurant after killing two Black Claw operatives, he was somehow relieved to be rid of the burden of their past. He went home to Adalind and his son with one less burden on his shoulders.

Since that night, Nick had never looked back at the past, not until the aftermath of that morning, when the Cupiditas' death released them from his thrall. Nick shifted uneasily at the memory of Eve, confessing her feelings for him and so much more than that. While everyone had grown attached to people they had never loved. It wasn't so with Eve and it made Nick, as well as his friends wonder. And a disturbing thought immediately crossed his mind, did Adalind also wonder about how much of the things Eve said were due the Amor de Infierno and how much actually came from a real place? The thought of the latter being true instantly made him uneasy.

Nick had only recently realised the unexpected, that he'd truly moved on with his life, that Adalind had become such an important part of it and proving more difficult to live without with each passing day just as Juliette equally became a distant memory of a life long gone. He wasn't so much as head over heels in love with Adalind, like the mopey saccharine-sweet songs often chimed. No, instead, Adalind had consumed every part of him beyond comprehension. He lived and breathed Adalind, much to his trepidation. He loved her more he ever imagined possible to love someone, so much more than he wanted to, at the beginning. Nick thought of the days, weeks he'd haplessly resisted the crushing tide of his feelings for Adalind, so much so he came up with every excuse in the book to deny reality and eventually keep her at arm's length for his own sake.

He remembered the night Eve told him about Adalind's powers returning, how she wouldn't be the Adalind he knew, his first thought had been 'please, not yet' instead of his battle axe. And when Rosalee confirmed it, he was mad…in fact, furious that she hadn't trust him enough to be honest. He'd been such a hypocrite, considering he hid the stick from her for pretty much the same period. Nick had gone out of his way to tell himself lies, that he felt nothing for her, especially when he knew her Hexenbiest had returned. It actually took Conrad Bonaparte and Black Claw for him to give in to his feelings, finally and even then, it had not been so easy for him. Nick had overcome one hurdle only to be confronted by another, the ever-growing fear of losing Adalind.

"I'm not in love with Eve, if that's what you're asking." He said irritably.

"I didn't ask anything," said Monroe but his friend gave him a knowing look that spoke to the contrary, repeating a question he'd asked him before, in Germany.

Nick's tongue twisted in knots. His heart began to race irrationally at the thought of saying out loud what had grown deep and sure in his heart. Why could he not say the words? He certainly felt them…and had felt them for weeks…months, in fact. Nick reasoned with himself that he wanted Adalind to be the first to hear them but not once did he utter the words to her since the night he discovered her powers had returned when Adalind had fallen fast asleep, but he chalked that up to his testosterone and adrenaline pumping in his veins after they'd just made love.

Since then, the three little words had always been on the tip of his tongue, begging to be let loose whenever they touched her. Or even when Kelly gave them sleepless nights and they both woke up with a serious case of bed-hair and she'd complain about having morning breath but he wouldn't care and would kiss her anyway because she was simply too beautiful and he couldn't believe his luck.

Nick never heard when Rosalee returned and asked for Monroe to be excused or Hank as he bid him a quick, "See you tonight." Nick was sitting all alone with nothing but his naked thoughts for company. Suddenly felt like a coward. The truth was that he was afraid to tell Adalind he loved her because then he'd lose her for certain. It was irrational, he realised but in the face of all he'd lost, it wasn't so farfetched to imagine.

Nick rose to his feet and made his way back to his room, both head and heart heavy with the realisation that he let his fear keep him from living a full life. He quietly entered their room. Kelly was in his cot by the bed, where Adalind lay sleeping. He sat on the chair across the bed and just watched her sleeping. Her blond hair had fanned across the pillow beneath her head and Nick imagined running his finger through the soft plush tresses. He lowered his gaze at her face and was surprised at how peaceful she looked. The fear and worry of losing Kelly had completely eradicated.

Nick removed his boots, walked to the other side of the bed, slid right besides her, nestling her back deep into his arms, and held her close.

"Mmm…I missed you." She said without opening her eyes.

"I missed you too." He admitted freely and closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode was played for laughs on screen but the when I started writing this chapter and explored just what was happening to these characters, or more specifically what could have happened, I realised how it all could have turned out badly for all of the scoobies. If Rosalee had in fact drunk the Champaign or if she had not found the waiter that poisoned them in time or if Wu had actually jumped off the cliff, there'd be no show. It was a brilliantly funny episode when I re-watched it. I laughed out from the moment they started to feel the effects of the spell but I'm grateful it all worked out (conveniently so) at the end.
> 
> I didn't exactly plan for this chapter, nor did I have a clue about what to write. It felt more like me rambling without a clear direction. In the end, I settled for Nick acknowledging the root of his fears. I hope you still enjoyed it.


	10. Blood Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait. As always your reviews are much appreciated, don't be shy to speak you mind.

Going home was Nick's favourite part of the day. It meant relaxing, putting his feet up, tuning out the cares of all of Portland for at least 8 hours straight, if he was lucky but most of all, it meant he came home to his family, Adalind, Kelly and Diana.

"Diana, please set up the table," he heard Adalind command her daughter before he could see them.

"Okay Mommy."

Nick lifted the elevator door leading into the loft and the most delicious smell ever assaulted his senses, so much that his stomach literally grumbled. The loft was exceptionally warm for a cold and harsh setting but over the past several months, Adalind worked hard to make it into a home for their little family. Nick watched as the mini version of the woman he loved jump to her feet from the blanket she shared with Kelly and skipped across the floor to pull a handful of grass mats from the bottom kitchen drawer, made her way to the table as Adalind asked.

"Oh hi Nick," Diana happily called out to him, her eyes gleaming.

"Hello Diana." He smiled in return

Diana proceeded to lay the table, focused on the task before her to pay him any more attention. Nick walked up to Kelly.

"Hey buddy," he scooped his son into his arms and hugged him close their cheeks touched.

"Hey, you're home early," Adalind greeted him in warm surprise.

"Hi," he said, walking to where she stood by the stove and gave her a hearty kiss on the lips.

"Oh, this is a nice surprise," she said.

"I missed you."

Adalind smiled at him, her cheeks glowing warmly and not from standing over the stove. Something tugged at his heart as he simply held her in his arms, gazing into her gleaming eyes, her smile so bright it nearly blinded him. Nick felt terrible for allowing his job(s) to take so much of his time, time away from his family; time away from her. He wasn't neglecting them by any means but he could count the number of times he came home before the children were already in bed. Kelly began to fidget uncomfortably, trapped between his parents so Nick quickly set him back down in front of his toys.

Adalind put on some mitts before removing the piping hot pot from the stove. She walked round the kitchen island and stole another kiss from him, "For the next half hour, no more shop talk." She instructed him.

"You two like to kiss a lot," mused Diana flatly.

"Sweetheart, I kiss you and Kelly all the time." Adalind said, as a rosy bloom filled her cheeks, the warmth spreading all the way to his pants.

"Yes but never on the lips," was Diana's frank response.

"That's because…" Adalind started as she eyed Nick helplessly. "It's because I love him but I also love you two but it's a different kind of love. Do you understand?"

"I know Mommy." Diana said as she carted Kelly's high chair to its usual spot at the table.

They all sat down for dinner as a family. Although the conversation was a little too much on the light side, Diana did her best to fill the empty silence. She proceeded to fill him in, however disparagingly, on her mother's attempts to instruct her on the use of her powers.

"I'm sure your mother is only doing what is best for you," he said automatically to the little sitting next to him while enjoying his rather delicious minestrone soup.

"Diana, it's not about how to use your abilities. I already know you are more than capable. Sweetheart, it's about when it is appropriate to use your extraordinary powers and for what purpose. You have to remember that we are all different and our…gifts…they are for a purpose."

Diana looked at her mother unconvinced.

"It's not about doing whatever you want because you can but about doing whatever you can…"

"…To help, just like Nick?" Diana cut her mother short and turned to face Nick who was enjoying this little slice of the mundane, a peace that had washed over him now that he was home.

"Not quite like Nick but in your own special way. You read the symbols on that very old cloth, remember? Nobody else could have done that. You helped Nick and his friends to know what was on the cloth and do you remember how that felt."

Diana smiled.

He couldn't help his own smile. With just a few words, Adalind worked her own magic over a wilful Diana. It reminded him of a time gone by when he and she were on opposite sides with jail bars literally separating them. "You don't have to be a witch to work this kind of magic," she had said and it was true. Adalind never needed the Hexenbiest to get what she wanted. It was a relief to know that these days they were on the same side and ultimately wanted the same things, even with the Hexenbiest back in full swing.

After dinner and the children already fast asleep, Nick and Adalind managed to find some much needed quality time together, an incredible feat with Diana only a few feet away behind the closed door. They had mastered the art of silence during their coupling and swallowing the more impassioned moans of pleasure in their kisses. Yes, going home was Nick's favourite part of the day. No matter what happened during the day, coming home was a salve to his soul he'd begun to cherish more than anything else in his world.

*/*/*

Nick had seen all sorts of things since becoming a cop and even worse things since becoming a Grimm but this new case had left him unusually shaken. Murder was far too common for the Grimm but there was nothing typical about the murder of a certain young woman. It wasn't every day that Nick discovered that a sick old man had in fact killed someone whose life had barely begun; granted he didn't know what he was doing at the time.

For the first time when confronted with a killer, Nick didn't act as a cop, not even as Grimm. He acted as a man. Ever since he turned eighteen, Nick had always had a clear view of his life and he took control of it at the very first opportunity. Unlike his Aunt Marie, he settled down in one place and choosing a path to follow, helping to protect the innocent that unbeknownst to him was a shadow of his true calling. He became a cop. He moved in with Juliette before they truly knew one another. But one afternoon upended all of his careful planning. He became a Grimm but more than that, Adalind came into his life, turning it upside down, and chased away any measure of control he had. At first, it infuriated him to no end but now, it scared the living daylights of him.

Going home was Nick's favourite part of the day but on this particular night, instead of finding peace, he found unrest. He didn't like bringing his work home. He learnt that the hard way with Juliette but Nick didn't exactly have much in choices when it came to being a Grimm and often found himself repeating certain behavioural patterns with Adalind that had ushered the destruction of his relationship with Juliette. However, there were slight differences, Nick noted. The chief among them being Adalind's support alleviating some of the pressure he felt for doing what he did.

That night, Norm Stanton's tragic ending broke his heart but it also opened Nick's eyes to a reality he was never prepared to face. He thought of Adalind. Sometimes it was easy to forget the differences between wesen, Grimm and Kehrseite. How even a simple disease for a regular human could have the most devastating effect on a wesen. One more thing to worry about in his ever-increasing list where Adalind was concerned, he thought. Every day, he faced criminals, cold-blooded killers but never something that left him feeling quite as helpless as watching Mrs Stanton before the Gevatter Tod took care of her husband. Rosalee had tried to explain to him why a wesen like Dr. Landeaux were necessary and Stanton's case was just one of the few cases he'd worked where being a cop or a Grimm was insufficient. Unfortunately, it hit too close to home, leaving Nick completely bereft.

Nick drove into the paint factory and watched as the garage door closed shut behind him. He sat in his Cruiser for longer than intended, thinking about Mrs Stanton but mostly about Adalind, whether or not he had the strength to do what Mrs Stanton did for her husband. Nick gruffly shook his head in an attempt to banish the fresh influx of morbid thoughts that seemed to revolve strongly around Adalind. He had to get his head on straight before joining his family and not bring his "work" home, however futile the attempt.

Since Bonaparte, Nick had unwittingly obsessed with thoughts of Adalind leaving him in some form or another, be it through death or Renard who already had a foot in through the form of Diana, the product of a shared past with Adalind, he was powerless to change. Adalind already left him once for her, his thoughts veered down the now familiar but unpleasant rabbit hole. Since Black Claw, things between Nick and Renard had deteriorated in the extreme, to say the least and right in the middle of their war was Adalind and Diana, much to Nick's trepidation.

Nick cursed. The last thing he wanted to think about was Sean Renard. His knuckles turned white as he crushed the steering wheel between his fists, his control was quickly ebbing away lest he got his act together. He took a deep breath, calmed his racing heart. What the heck was going on with him? He wondered. Nick was never this exposed…or vulnerable, at least not since he lost his parents at twelve years. It wasn't like him at all to be swayed so much by his emotions over what was beyond his control.

"Screw this!" he hissed and stepped out into the darkened garage. His family waited for him one floor above and it was more than time he enjoyed them. It was time to stop letting his paranoia get the better of him and actually live his life, which against all odds, was in fact a good life. He had the love of a gorgeous, smart woman and two beautiful children, more than he thought he deserved. Even though Adalind wore another man's ring, she chose Nick. She loved him and that's all that mattered but then there was Diana….

Although she had Renard's blood coursing through her veins, she was every bit her mother's daughter. Nick had tried to remain at a careful distance where she was concerned but all he had to do was look at her and his resolve chipped away until there was nothing left. She wasn't the easiest child to love and according to Monroe, she wasn't the easiest child to be around either but if someone had told Nick years ago that Adalind would become the very air he breathed, he would have laughed in their face and told them to stop smoking whatever was messing with their head.

Adalind had warmed her way into his heart before he even knew what had hit him. Feebly, he tried to stop himself from falling, coming up with every reason under the sun to force himself to stay away from her. Nick grimaced at the memory of his sometimes-cold behaviour after returning from Germany. If Adalind's returning powers couldn't keep him away from her or make him indifferent towards her, nothing ever would and Diana was nothing if not her mother's daughter, striking resemblance aside. It was something he quickly realised the more time they spent around one another. Being with Adalind had never been easy, at least not in the beginning; it was no surprise to Nick Diana proved to be no different from her mother.

Diana wasn't some fearsome enigma living under his roof. She was a child and he was seeing for himself what his mother tried to tell him only a couple of years before. Diana was special, in her own unique way. Nick knew that it wasn't her fault that in her young life, the adults around her, present company included played a major role in making her the way she was and suspending much of her emotional development, to put it lightly. He couldn't even blame Diana for looking at him with suspicion when she first moved into the loft with her mother every time he kissed Adalind, let alone dared to touch the woman he loved because he was so desperate to feel Adalind close to him. It was a trait Nick was quite familiar with himself.

Initially, Nick had been wary of the little girl, the raw power she possessed that he sensed made her extremely dangerous but he also wasn't blind to the innocence forcefully buried by circumstances beyond her control that only surfaced when she was around her mother. When had Diana stopped giving him the lethal side-eye and the stiffness between them dissipated, he wasn't even sure but he was certainly grateful it did for Adalind's, no, for all of their sakes. They were a family, however unconventional and Nick would be damned if he didn't do anything to keep them all together.

The first time Adalind asked him to help her find Diana, Nick had been hesitant, uncomfortable because for the first time, he was confronted by his own culpability for taking her daughter away. Before that moment, he'd always justified his actions, which hinged on preventing a future catastrophe of epic proportions by painting Adalind as an unfit mother. It was a shock to his system just how wonderful a mother Adalind in fact was.

Adalind candidly made no secret of her past mistakes particularly with Diana, confessing as much to him when they finally stopped seeing one another as enemies. Her humility shamed him. No amount of reasoning could justify separating mother and daughter any longer when losing his own mother at a tender age scarred and shaped him into the man he was today. When he became a Grimm, his Aunt Marie had told him to protect the innocent and who was more innocent than a child was? He should have done more to find Diana sooner and spared her from so much of the chaos that has dogged her steps since his mother came to him asking him to protect Adalind and her baby girl.

Nick entered the dark and quiet loft, careful not to make too much noise. It was nearly midnight, according to the clock above the kitchen sink to his right. He peered to his left at a sleeping Diana before entering his bedroom. Adalind flicked the light switch to the lamp beside her.

"Sorry didn't mean to wake you."

"I wasn't sleeping very well anyway." She exhaled, clearly as tired as he felt.

He walked over to his son's crib, "Hey, you." He smiled down at a wide-awake Kelly.

"Is everything okay?" Adalind asked. Her tone was light but he sensed her worry.

"Yeah, it's been a long day. We managed to solve that girl's case tonight," he told her sombrely.

"You don't sound too happy about it," she pointed out.

"No, I'm not. I love my job. I love being a Grimm. I get to help people but sometimes I hate it especially when I'm simply powerless to stop bad things from happening to good people."

"…That bad huh?"

"Yeah, an old man did it but he was just another victim. He was suffering from severe dementia and couldn't control himself the night he killed Maddie Simms. I can't feel good about that."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"Would it help if I said I'm glad for your job? Or that I'm glad that you are a Grimm or else we would have never met?" She said.

"…Some," he said, his lips turning a fraction upwards. It helped a lot, if he was truly honest.

She hesitated before continuing, "Did Renard talk to you?"

"Yeah." He winced.

Renard wasn't his favourite topic of conversation; something he suspected wasn't lost to Adalind. Unfortunately, circumstances were forcing them all together whether they liked it or not. He removed his gun and badge, placed them on the bureau by the window as he counted his words before he said anymore or else risk letting out a few choice words about Renard not meant for hearing. It was no surprise that Renard was still under the misguided impression that he somehow controlled Nick, that he had any power over him. In recent weeks, Nick had swiftly set him straight but Renard was a Royal after all, thus prone to delusions of grandeur and superiority. Nick stood his ground when Renard demanded to see the tunnels, as if Nick was an idiot to welcome the man back into his home after their last altercation at the loft.

"Apparently, someone he knows thinks Diana might be in danger." That got her attention real quick.

"Who?" Adalind asked him nervously.

"He wouldn't tell me, but it's someone who apparently has the ability to understand these symbols. Do you know who that might be?" he sat on the bed, resting his hand over her leg.

"No, but Renard has a lot of friends in wry places."

The hairs in the back of his head pricked upwards. She called him Renard, not Sean. Nick turned away from her. He wondered if it was a conscious decision on her part to spare his feelings, knowing how cold things were between the two men since Bonaparte came into their lives. He sneered at the invasive thought, berating himself for sounding like a jealous boyfriend.

"Have you decided if you're gonna tell him about the tunnel?" She asked.

"Not yet." And he never will, he thought.

"Nick, there's something I need to tell you about the night that Renard killed Bonaparte."

He scoffed at the memory, "That was a fun night. What?" he quipped belying his true feelings about where this conversation was headed.

"After it happened, Renard…"

There it was again. Adalind put as much distance between herself and the man who fathered her daughter for his sake. If she was trying to spare him, it wasn't working.

"…Didn't know what he'd done until he saw the bloody sword in his hand." She finished.

"Yeah, he looked confused." He admitted blandly. "Are you trying to make an excuse for him?" Now he sounded every bit like the jealous boyfriend that he was. He couldn't put that genie back in the bottle.

"No." she back paddled, but not for the reasons he imagined. Adalind looked over his shoulder to their bedroom door and then turned towards him, whispered conspiratorially "I'm trying to tell you that Diana made him do it, because she knew that Bonaparte had choked me."

Okay, this was unexpected. When Bonaparte died, there were only two men standing in the middle of his loft. What Adalind was saying sounded impossible. He'd seen what Hexenbiests could do. This was clearly something else.

"She can do that?" Nick sounded sceptical.

"Mm-hmm. She also caused the death of Rachel Wood. I watched her."

"…But how?" He asked, ignoring the alarm ringing in his head, or the fact that Adalind only thought of telling him now.

"She sort of brought me there telepathically. At first, I thought it was a dream. It made no sense finding myself in the middle of Rachel Wood's bedroom and then I heard she was truly dead and realised what Diana had done."

That explained a lot, why Renard had initially approached Adalind as his alibi when Hank and Wu arrested him while Nick was still on the run, or why Adalind never went back to the firm after leaving the Black Claw mansion, choosing to stay home with Diana instead. Adalind and Renard were both protecting their daughter but that didn't bother him as much as realising Adalind still didn't trust him, the thought raged fiercely in his mind. He had thought they were over their trust issues but apparently, he was mistaken.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just didn't know how you'd react and I was afraid telling you would put you in danger. I have spent almost every day with Diana trying to be a mother to her and undo some of the damage I have caused her in my ignorance. I am the reason Diana is the way she is and I would never forgive myself if anything ever happened to you because her. Some days, I think it's working, that I am getting through to her and then other days she goes over to Sean's and I worry. I worry that he's influencing her against us…me…you. Diana killed Bonaparte for choking me. She went after Rachel because she perceived her as a threat and I couldn't let that happen to you. I was wrong not to tell you. I know that having Diana with us hasn't been easy and it's selfish of me to want to be with the people I love the most in this world. I don't want to lose either of you." She said, her eyes downcast.

"I don't want to lose you either." He finally said, after a moment of contemplative silence and taking her hand in his.

"I think we need to tell Renard about the tunnel. If Diana is connected to this in some way and he knows someone who can help us…"

"I don't trust him."

"I don't either, but this is his daughter. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her, and I think we need all the help we can get in figuring out what those symbols mean and how they connect to Diana."

He begrudgingly conceded the point. He may hate Renard but he couldn't deny that he loved Diana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part of this chapter happens at the beginning of 6x11 but I put this conversation between Nick and Adalind in this chapter since it followed immediately after the events of 6x10. While writing this chapter, it dawned on me just how the end of the show wasn't structured well at all. Don't get me wrong, I love the show, and I love these characters but some of the writing just didn't make any sense. I am going to put my spin on the ending and attempt to tie some loose ends so the ending or rather the whole six seasons full of the show makes some sense at least. That means we're not far from the end of my little experiment in filling the gaps of what we saw on screen. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.


	11. Where the Wild Things Were

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured I could write this chapter and post it immediately after the last one. I actually had no intention to write anything for "Blood Magic" but I can't seem to let these characters go. I hope you enjoy.

Stupid.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

What was Eve thinking jumping through the mirror alone when he specifically told her not to and even more stupid; he followed her without so much as a plan? Both of them needed to have their heads checked out the second they left this place, if they ever left this place.

What was this place?

It was unfamiliar yet he felt like he'd been there before, only it looked different, cold and relentless. There were woods everywhere he looked, like the Portland woods or more specifically, the Black Forest.

He remembered holding the stick in his hand, so sure that he could use it to open the portal from this side to get both himself and Eve back to Portland but that blasted piece of wood stayed behind in Monroe's living room when he crossed over. Normally, he'd focus on solving a problem that stood immovable in his path but staring into the flames of this strange village in a strange land, all Nick could do was to dwell on Adalind's worried expression through the mirror now turned solid rock. He had no way to come home and she knew it. He saw it on her face, in her eyes and he could punch himself for being so stupid…and so naïve, relying on something he still knew little about. The only consolation to his predicament was knowing that it wasn't Adalind stuck on this side of the portal, that she and the children were all safe in Portland.

Although he and Eve found one another just minutes after he crossed over, their reunion wasn't exactly warm. He was visibly upset. They were supposed to work together against this skull-faced man. Eve going out on her own wasn't smart and probably compromised all of them. She was determined to kill this creature with or without him, with no plan and no strategy, just find the creature and kill him, at least that's what she hoped to do but Nick wasn't convinced it's that easy. Now that he was there, he just couldn't leave her to her suicide mission.

He found out that "skull face" was actually called Zerstörer, the Destroyer and that the locals were just as eager for them to kill this Destroyer as Eve was after he'd asked them where he could be found. Nick had earlier discharged his gun, killing at least two Blutbaden in front of the Kehrseite village and somehow they got it into their heads that all he had to do was shoot Zerstörer and everything would be all right. However, Nick wasn't so sure, not forgetting the fact that he already wasted seven bullets since coming into this weird world and brought no other weaponry or ammunition.

This started as a "search and recover Eve" mission, not a "search and destroy the Destroyer" mission and it grated on him just thinking how terribly ill equipped the two of them were to take on this creature alone. Eve may be a Hexenbiest but this was Zerstörer's world and from what little they saw of the wesen, neither was sure how this world affected her beyond causing her to woge involuntarily. The fact that they had to hide her true nature from the locals wasn't a good sign.

After a gnarly wesen supper, only three people left the village, Nick, Eve and the only man who had a grasp of the English language thus Nick assumed was the leader of the human village. They headed back in the same direction they came when running from the Blutbaden he'd killed. After about thirty minutes hiking in the cold, dark and dank forest, the longhaired, tall and bulky man pointed beyond the tree line and out of English words, said something in old German. Perhaps they were close to where they wanted to go, Nick told Eve but there wasn't a way to be certain since he never learnt any German despite more than half of his ancestral books being written in the language. For all he knew the man could have said, "Up ahead is the ice cream truck" but that wouldn't sound right, Nick huffed. He chided himself for the ludicrous but humorous thought but then he was just minutes away from confronting the unknown with nothing but a gun with a handful of bullets, a little light heartedness never killed anybody.

"I think that means we're getting close." He told Eve.

They suddenly came to a dead stop, just outside a clearing. Nick could see an eerie light emanating between the trees up ahead casting strange shadows in the dark of night. They really needed to leave this place and soon. From the moment, he came though the mirror, the hair at the back of his neck had been on end. His heart was racing beaten only by the million thoughts crossing his mind. Why did Eve do this? What was Zerstörer? Could he be killed? Would he ever see his family again?

Their guide gesticulated, using his hands to show them where to go. He then went down on his knees arranging several rocks in a circular shape to make his point.

"It's a rock circle." Eve said.

"I think I know where he's taking us." Nick said, almost relieved.

They came through one of those stones in the circle. It had the same symbols as on the cloth, the same cloth that only Diana could decipher with ease, the same cloth that wrapped a nondescript piece of wood with healing powers that save his life and that of his friends.

The man said something about wesen but neither he nor Eve understood him.

"…Something about a Wesen…going…" he repeated but in English.

There were more German words uttered he couldn't understand and more hand flailing, pointing where they reluctantly wanted to go.

"I don't think he's not coming with us." Turning to Nick, Eve said.

"I can't say I blame him."

Eve looked down at her hands, baring the changes wrought by the woge she couldn't control. Unfortunately, their German friend happened to look at the same time and saw for himself that Eve was no regular woman. The man's eyes bulged o far out of their sockets, it was a surprise they didn't pop right off.

Damn.

In a frightened tone he whispered, "Hexenbiest."

Their cover was blown. Any help he could have gotten from the villagers was now toast.

"No, I won't hurt you. I won't hurt you." Eve tried pleading with him but it was too late.

"Hexenbiest!" The man cried over again. He hightailed out of there and never looked back.

"At least he took us this far." Nick said. It was pointless to worry about the villager when they had bigger fish to fry.

Eve looked down at her hands, "It's getting worse, Nick. Wesen here don't woge."

She was right. The dead flesh of the Hexenbiest had crawled from the back of her hands, up her neck. In a matter of minutes, Eve would woge in full, probably never to woge back like the other wesen in this place. Whatever this place was, the wesen couldn't hide behind their human faces. They appeared in their true nature. Suddenly something began to yank at the fabric of his mind, something about this place, like trying to remember the name of a popular song. It was at the tip of his tongue and just when he was sure he had it, like smoke, it slipped through his grasp.

"This is where I came through."

"Me too. These are the symbols that were on the cloth."

"And in the sky."

"Looks kind of like a druid temple. I'm guessing this is your standard stone slab sacrificial altar."

"Well, where there's blood, Zerstörer can't be too far. Be careful" he cautioned Eve as they walked around the stone circle, which reminded him of several stone circles back in their world found particularly in Scotland and England, the most famous of which was the Stonehenge.

He wondered if there was a connection to this place. Perhaps this was connected to the Black Forest, since he felt a connection, a familiarity he couldn't shake. They weaved and bobbed between the massive erect stones that had various symbol etched all over them, ancient symbol that made not a lick of sense to him. The symbol looked like they were a series of constellations. He wished Adalind was there with him, to help him make sense of this place other than the macabre. She knew a lot about this sort of thing, the many cultures that could read and worshipped the stars all at once.

No he didn't. Although she wanted to come there for Eve, he was grateful Adalind was as far away from this place as she would ever be. As far as he could tell they were trapped this side, without the stick on the other side of the stone. These stones, the etchings on them, he was certain they were important. He knew that at least one was his ticket back to Adalind, the one that opened the portal between the two worlds with some sort of doomsday clock etched on the one face, the same symbols that matched the stars above them. Something big was about to happen, but what, was the big question.

He took a step closer to another rock, the one that aligned with the head of the stone sacrificial slab. The symbols on that stone didn't match any of the others. There were much simpler, two circles, one small and one big just above the small circle with a thick line cutting through its centre like a rod. There were tens of small cuts into rock around the small circle, spreading out ward and upward towards the big circle. This stone, of all the rest caught his attention.

"What is it?" Eve, noticing the scowl on his face asked.

"I don't know…it's something. This place, it looks familiar and I don't mean familiar because that rock spit us out just hours ago."

"Yeah, you said it was the Black Forest or something like it."

"Yeah…I mean no. When Monroe and I went to Germany, where we found the stick, there was no stone circle. It was just trees. We found the catacombs by chance but I think I've been here before." He said with emphasis. "Maybe in a dream…"

"Diana." Eve said suddenly.

Of course. He 'd seen this place in one of his dreams or nightmares and Diana had told him just as much , that it hadn't been a dream, but the "other" place and now they were finally there. He'd forgotten all about it with everything that happened in the last few days. Nick looked around, trying to recall his dream, hoping to find some clue as to how to kill Zerstörer but his mind drew a blank. It was useless. It was as the time when he lost his abilities, when he knew about wesen but was blind to them. There was something important about this place that he was desperate to remember but the memory was locked deep inside his subconscious, it did him no good.

They heard some growling and snarling beyond the circle but it was too dark to see or pinpoint where the wesen were coming from. Nick drew his gun, taking careful steps ahead of him, towards the left of the circle, relying heavily on his hearing because his eyes were useless in this place. He and Eve split up, covering opposite ground searching, waiting for Zerstörer but a Blutbad came for them first. The wesen jumped into the circle and attacked Eve who stood closest to the edge. It slammed her hard against the cold ground, soliciting a pained grunt from her lips her to the ground and even though he had his gun pointed he knew he couldn't take the shot, in case he missed and got Eve instead. They exchanged blows and Eve managed to raise her legs between her the Blutbad and kicked him straight into Nick's hands. Nick threw the Blutbad over the sacrificial slab, pulled his gun and fired two, maybe three shots and killing the wesen instantly. It happened so quickly he lost count of the rounds he shot.

He quickly went to check on Eve, "You're bleeding." He said pulling the collar of her jacket slightly open to check the wound.

"What? It doesn't feel that bad. This is what worries me." She lifted her hand to show him her Hexenbiest hand.

She could have been killed and she's worried about the Hexenbiest?

"It was one of the Blutbaden that was following us, the one I didn't kill." He said hastily, biting down his emotions. He…had to keep a level head if he hoped to kill Zerstörer.

"I'm thinking he came here to tell Zerstörer," said Eve.

"Who now knows we're here." Nick replied testily. So much for their element of surprise, Nick thought wryly.

"Good thing you brought that."

"If I'd known I was gonna need this many bullets, I'd have brought more. There's only three left." He exhaled sharply, not enough….

"I'll check outside the perimeter," offered Eve.

Like hell she was, "No, no, no. No, hey. We don't split up. We stay together."

"Excuse me?" She hissed. "I don't want to be rescued, Nick. I came here for a reason." She told him bluntly.

Not this again, he heaved in frustration.

"You can't take on the skull thing alone." He said forcibly, hoping to talk some sense into her.

"You have a son." She countered. "You should be thinking of him instead of worrying about me."

"Well, I do worry. It's somewhat hard not to. Remember that you're here because of me and I'm not talking about this place wherever it is. None of this would have ever happened to you if you hadn't met me."

She snickered but he doubted it was out of amusement.

"So you think I want to change all of that?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, you're wrong because I don't. A lot of bad things happened to me when all of this started. I didn't understand it at first. I was scared and angry, and I did a lot of terrible things, things I'm sure you can never forgive."

"That's not true." He interrupted her rather impassioned speech.

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that you forgive me what I did to you, to your mother? I know I can't forgive myself." She paused. "I hurt you terribly and I am so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. I should have done…" He said, his voice catching slightly.

"You didn't and you did. Don't' you see? It wasn't about you. You more than anyone should know we are the choices we make. I didn't ask to become what I am but I didn't have to become a monster either. How you can even look at me when I threatened your son…hmm, you were stronger than I was."

"Juliet ..."

"No! I'm not Juliette anymore, Nick. The woman I was, the woman you knew, she's gone. There may be a part of me that is like her, but it is not who I am now in this moment and it's not who I'm gonna be ever again. Honestly, I don't blame you for what happened. How can I? When we were together, I only knew a part of who you were. You only knew a part of who you were."

"I guess none of us are who we used to be." He said solemnly.

"True, and that's good." She stressed.

"You really believe we're all better off?"

" Don't you?" She asked him blankly and he froze.

She smiled meekly.

"Nick, it's okay. You've moved on. You found your way, your place in the world. It was time for me to do the same. It wasn't by your side, at least not as your lover. And it wasn't with Meisner and Hadrian's Wall. But both of you still helped get me to where I needed to be. Ever since you used the stick to heal me, I've thought about everything, you, and me…us. How we can never go back to the way things were. Watching you with Adalind, you were finally happy and I was so terrified because I felt the sudden rush of emotion welling up inside, like before. I remember asking myself why you stayed with her and not with me. Yeah I was feeling a lot, things that HW's mind conditioning had suppressed but surprisingly, the anger and resentment, that was all gone. I was just left with me and for the first time I was free.

"Well I'm sorry too, for my part. I know I was never the person you needed me to be. My aunt told me to let you go, just before she died but I didn't. It wasn't fair of me to put you through all of that chaos. I was selfish and careless. This life…being a Grimm it's taken so much and hurt so many people along the way…"

"…But it's saved so many more. I finally understand why you couldn't give it up. It hasn't been an easy road but I now have a strength and a purpose that I never had before. I know you're here because you loved me once, and you feel responsible for the bad things that happened, but you can't change any of it. And I can't change any of it. And if you could, would you really want to go back to the way things were just to exist as a shadow of who we really are? Would that make you happy? Do you think that would make me happy? Happy doesn't interest me anymore, Nick. It just gets in the way."

"And you think facing certain death every day for the rest of your life is much more preferable? This is crazy." He raked his hand through his dark hair. She wasn't making any sense. He ruined her life. His mother would be alive if he'd done the right thing from the very beginning an listened to his aunt.

"You know that's not what I meant. Everything that has happened to us; you, me even Adalind that brought us together for this moment right here, right now. It happened for a reason. So I think you're right."

"Right about what?"

"I can't kill Zerstörer alone. It's gonna take both of us."

"Eve…" He started as the ground began to shake beneath their feet. "I don't think that's the dead Blutbad doing that."

They heard loud footsteps and growling before Zerstörer finally stepped from behind one of the rocks and into the circle.

"Zerstörer." Nick uttered.

The creature looked even more hideous that he'd imagined. He had the skull face that they'd seen at least twice before in the mirror and the rest of him looked charred to crisp as if he'd been dipped in hellfire. Zerstörer held a very long, windy wooden staff, which he immediately raised into the air before he struck the ground, caused the earth to shake violently and send a ripple that threw Nick and Eve off their feet. Nick had already lost his patience, he fired the last three rounds at the beast, or was it a demon; he wasn't sure which it was. What little good that did because he may as well have shot rubber bullets the way his bullets grazed the blacked skin and wilted to the ground at the Destroyer's feet. Now they were completely defenceless unless Eve's Hexenbiest had a trick up her sleeve she neglected to share with him

"Decapitare, said Zerstörer as he pointed at Nick.

"Well, he knows you're a Grimm."

"…And he doesn't seem to be too scared of them."

Zerstörer lifted his big stick and the air around them began to vibrate, going from cold to hot in an instant. This didn't look good at all.

"Do you have any ideas?" He turned to Eve.

She woged, transforming herself into the Hexenbiest, probably her last woge. She conjured a storm giving them enough cover to split up and flank Zertsörer from both sides but he was ready for them. He used the stick and flung Nick across the ground. He used an invisible force emanating from the staff to smack Eve into the ground, both she and Nick barely escaping taking additional beating without the stick actually making physical contact.

"We have to get that staff away from him." Eve stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Ready?"

Before the got to even five feet of Zerstörer, a colony of bats swarmed Nick and Eve, coming from below their feet out of thin air. Eve attempted a second cloaking and made a quick getaway.

"He can kill us, but he's not."

"He's trying to trap us." Nick concluded.

That didn't make any sense. He practically choked Eve through the mirror but now he was content throwing them around and using bats to throw them off? Something was up but the cold had seeped into his bones, slowing down his thinking. Zerstörer wasn't trying to kill them. That much was clear. He didn't have time to wonder why not because even though death wasn't on the menu, Zerstörer wasn't shy about pummelling Nick or Eve to a pulp.

Nick lunged once more at Skull face, trying to distract him so Eve could launch her attack and get the staff away from him but then he heard her scream.

"Nick it's opening!"

He looked behind him and saw that the portal was indeed open. Zerstörer knocked Eve into the ground and turned his stick towards Nick, flinging him backwards. He desperately called out to Eve, holding out his hand towards her as he lost his balance. Inexplicably, he was moving backwards, towards the open portal. Luckily, Eve managed to sidestep Zerstörer and ran towards him and the moment of the force slammed her against him as they both flew through the air and into the portal. The last thing Nick saw was Zerstörer watching them before absolute and total darkness engulfed him.

Nick felt as though he had been flying through the air for what seemed like forever. He helplessly grasped at nothing hoping for something solid to grab hold to give him his bearing. He heard the breaking of glass as his body smashed against hard edges nearly knocking him out.

"Mommy it worked. I got Nick back for you."

Nick was still shell shocked, disorientated when Adalind suddenly knelt before him.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, hugging him fiercely to her body.

His first and only thought was that he was home and he held her tightly, swearing never again to let her go


	12. Zerstörer Shrugged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm exercising my creative licence with this chapter, altering the show's dialogue and scenes etc. I hope you all enjoy.

Adalind hesitantly showed Sean the tunnel. He had made it clear that he wouldn't share whatever information or sources he knew unless they, specifically Nick, showed him the tunnel that so happened to be beneath the fome and with Nick gone and having no other choice, that she did. She had to swallow down a lump of guilt as she ushered Sean Renard into their secret tunnels, against Nick's wishes. Nick had been so adamant they keep his Captain out of the loop but that was before Nick was trapped on the other side without a way back home. It was too late to worry about whether or not she made the right decision. It got her what she wanted. Dasha Karpushin, Sean's friend did know a bit more about the symbols but more chillingly, who and what the skull guy was.

According to Dasha, Diana was supposedly the Shaphat, the 'Child Bride' to this monster…this devil as perceived by many different cultures including wesen.

A child bride.

Adalind wanted to rage and scream. This thing wanted her daughter but she'd be damned if she let it get anywhere near her. Adalind couldn't help thinking her mistakes would dog her, or rather her daughter's steps for the rest of her life. It seemed everyone and their mother seemed to want her daughter for themselves. It all began with Nick taking her powers away and Adalind doing everything humanly possible to get them back. All her efforts now appear to have doomed her child to a horrible fate watermarked by the fact that Diana would never get to live a normal life like every other child, wesen or Kehrseite in the world.

It wasn't fair. Diana didn't deserve this. If anyone should pay for his or her mistakes Adalind should be the first in line, Diana was an innocent in everything that happened since the day she seduced Sean in order to conceive a Royal baby to bargain with for the return of her powers. Adalind should be the one to suffer a life isolated from the rest of the world because she was the danger to those around her. Adalind should be the one punished for her own actions, reaping what she had sown in anger and foolishness. It was a miracle Kelly didn't suffer the same fate as his sister, as far as she could tell.

Then there was Nick.

What did he see in her? Of all the men she knew, he had the most right to kick her out into the streets or even cut off her head but he never did. She had caused him the most pain, directly and indirectly, yet she'd often catch him looking at her and her bones would melt to simmering liquid in anticipation. He wasn't like any of the men she knew. He was far from being anything like the men she knew. Nick was an impossible marvel in spite of everything that went on between them before Kelly came into their lives and he was hers just as she was his.

Where she expected loyalty from Sean after years of doing him countless favours and eventually warming his bed, she was reviled and rejected in the worst way imaginable, cast out into the street like an unruly dog. Where she expected rejection and hatred from Nick, she received acceptance, understanding, and even love, although she never earned it. She didn't know what he saw in her but she loved watching it burning bright behind his eyes, it was addicting. She'd given everything to Sean and got nothing in return compared to Nick who never stopped giving as much as he got regardless of the three little words remaining unsaid, held closely against his chest. Her life was better than she expected, better than she deserved…what she'd give to swap placed with her daughter….

She remembered years ago, the last night she spent with Diana while she was still a baby. They were both wet and very hungry, huddled together upstairs in the spare bedroom of Nick's old house. She remembered overhearing Kelly's hushed tone explaining to Nick just how "special" her daughter was. It was the Contaminatio Ritualis. That's how Diana got her extraordinary powers but it never explained where those powers came from. In her own desperation to get her Hexenbiest or rather, a Hexenbiest back and she made a deal with Stefania Vaduva Popescu, the Queen of the Schwartzwald Gypsies.

Had Adalind cared to eavesdrop any further to the conversation downstairs, she might have realised Kelly Burkhardt's real intentions for Diana from that one single interlude with her son. However, Adalind had turned her focus back to her daughter after hearing one too many unkind words spoken about her and every horrible thing she had ever done, all of which were true. It hurt to listen although she would never have admitted it at the time because she didn't care what Nick thought of her; at least she wasn't supposed to care.

According to Nick, this supposed "destiny" is what spurred Kelly to take Diana away from Adalind in the first place, to change Diana's fate by separating mother and daughter before Adalind's more unsavoury influence could rub off Diana but it would appear that Kelly had been wrong this whole time. If Dasha was to be believed, Adalind wasn't this great source of 'evil' that they had to keep away from Diana at all cost in order to protect her and the rest of the world or however Kelly put it. Apparently the evil that threatened Diana and the rest of the world wasn't her mother but rather this skull-faced man from another dimension. It was supposedly prophesied much to Adalind's trepidation. She didn't believe in prophecies, destinies, or any of that nonsense but what could she do when her Diana was caught right in the middle of it?

Catherine, her mother had once told her that prophecies were for lazy or weak willed people too afraid to control of their fate today by relying on words written by some "hack" centuries ago tripping on some hallucinogen. And if Adalind had learnt at least one thing from Catherine Schade, it was to always take control of her life and go after everything she wanted and holding nothing back, no matter what life threw her way. She did that when she lost her powers, when she realised that Juliette was a threat to her son and she would do it again for her daughter against this monster. So screw destiny! Screw prophecy! This devil or Satan would have to crawl over Adalind's cold and very dead body before she let it come anywhere near her daughter.

Adalind tucked the quilt firmly around Diana's small form as she slept on the couch in Monroe and Rosalee's living room. She looked so tiny and innocent. It galled her to imagine some monster impregnating her little girl, she didn't care that Diana's body grew at a hyper accelerated rate. They had to find a way to stop this. Apparently, that's what Eve went to do when she jumped through the mirror alone. Well not quite alone because Nick followed after her and left his only ticket back. They told Sean everything he wanted to know in the hope that whatever he knew would help them bring Nick and Eve back from the other world but there was nothing.

Sean had been particularly quiet since they arrived at Monroe's. There was something on his mind. She could tell by that familiar crease of his brow but he'd remained silent almost keeping to himself, even after their daughter fell asleep from sheer exhaustion with all the back and forth between locations. She looked at the clock, it was well past 2am.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Adalind didn't mean to snap at him but they were all on edge after that video call with Dasha.

"Nothing," said Sean.

It wasn't "nothing."

"BS, I know you Sean. You've been typically quiet since we left the loft, I can literally see the wheels turning in your head, so spit it out."

"I don't owe you anything." He bit back.

"As long as it concerns our daughter…"

"Exactly! Maybe if you thought of her in the first place we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm only here for her, not to get your boyfriend and his Ex back from God knows where." He said, emphasising the word, "Ex" to point out the obvious.

Adalind snapped her neck and gave Sean her most vicious side eye.

Yes, Nick and Eve were alone together in another world, possibly with no way back but she trusted Nick despite Sean being a complete dick about the whole situation.

"My daughter is in this mess because of you and Nick." He added coldly.

"Don't you even, Sean. You know that's not the case."

"What else do you want me to think? Some ancient demon is after our daughter because you showed her some cloth with symbols on it, the same cloth that was hidden for eight centuries that your idiot of a beau dug up in the Black Forest. If anything happens to her, I swear to G…"

He didn't get the chance to finished his sentence before she slammed him hard against the back wall and causing the house to shake. Adalind telepathically began to constrict his lungs.

"Whoa-whoa, what's going on here?" Monroe came running from the kitchen

Adalind released Sean and he collapsed on to his feet, coughing as his lungs filled air.

"It's nothing," said Adalind with her eye trained fiercely on Sean.

"We're just talking." Sean added nonchalantly.

"Really? It sounded like the world was coming to an end from where I stood."

"We're good," she said to reassure Monroe who hesitated.

"We are all on the same side here, or aren't we?" Monroe asked, his eyes glowing with a hint of red.

"We're good," reiterated Sean, raising his hands in a sign of surrender more towards Adalind than towards their host.

"Now I think we all could use with my aunt's chamomile and peppermint tea instead, to calm the nerves." He said and waited for any protest to the contrary but none came. "Hmmm, I just had a thought. It's a wild shot but it's something, at least I hope it's something. I think I have a book somewhere up in the attic that might help us. I don't know why I didn't think of it before now but then if I didn't have a Hexenbiest and a half Zauberbiest trying to tear one another art in my living room; it makes sense how I could have easily missed it. Now I'm going upstairs to look for it, will you two behave yourselves while I'm gone?" He turned to the both like a disapproving parent.

"Monroe go. We'll be fine." She calmly and reassured him.

She waited until they couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before turning back to Sean, giving him a silent but deadly warning not to step out of line about things he knew nothing about.

"Now-now Adalind, you don't want to upset the Blutbad, after that stellar performance."

"You're an asshole." She told him already tired from all the exertion. "And I'm an idiot for always thinking that you're more than what you are, a bastard."

"Ouch." He said in feigned hurt.

"You're always so quick to blame others for everything and leaving none for yourself or don't you remember the key? This is where it all began and so don't pretend your hands are no less dirty than the rest of us. Yes, Nick brought that cloth back from Germany and I made Diana read what was written on it. We couldn't have known what it all meant. Eve crossed the mirror to kill this thing that's after our daughter and Nick is gone too, to help protect our daughter from this thing. So it's either you stay and help us or you can find your way out. This place isn't big enough for anymore spineless white meat." She said and walked away without waiting for his response.

She couldn't waste any more time on Sean Renard, not when they needed to find a way to help Nick and Eve and keep Diana safe. She headed to the dining room, where all her mother's books were including the one Eve used to open the portal was sprawled open on the table. They already knew how to open the portal but they had to find another way to open it and guarantee safe passage for anyone other than a Hexenbiest.

Adalind sat down and started reading.

"Hand me that book over there," Sean said pointing to the one next to one about charms and spells, that looked like it was bound in very old and grey leather. Adalind shuddered at the thought of which animal, or maybe person was killed to cover the book. Without a word or a look, she did as he asked and pushed it across the table towards him. They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, with nary a sound but the turning of old worn out pages.

She looked up at one of the clocks on the wall, it was now seventeen minutes to 3:00am, nearly thirty minutes had passed and they'd found nothing, Monroe had disappeared ages ago and they hadn't heard anything from Rosalee. It was looking more and more hopeless with each passing minute. She thought of Nick, or specifically, she tried not to think of Nick, wondering if he was alive, or safe. Adalind quelled the shaking in her hands at the thought of Nick dead and her, helpless to do anything about it. She refused to believe that death could easily snatch him away from her when they had just found each other. He was alive and he would find his way back to her, and together, they would stop this skull-faced man and keep Diana safe.

"Oh, this is a waste of time! I know how to get in there." She said completely frustrated.

"Adalind…" Sean started. "Well, then if you can get in, I'm pretty sure I can get in."

She eyed him sceptically, where did this sudden change of heart come from? There was no love lost between Sean and Nick and Adalind was certain if Sean had his way, he'd make sure Nick never came back. He'd shown more than just open disdain at the man who'd easily slipped into the role of a father figure for his daughter. The fact that Nick and Diana were getting along better than expected grated on him, especially if he'd planned for Diana to deal Nick in the same manner she handled Rachel Wood.

This offering to go through the mirror to help bring Nick back wasn't like him, yes she gave him an ultimatum of sorts but she never expected him to actually take her up on it. Sean was selfish and very transparent, for him to offer to help, especially when there was nothing for him to gain by it was jarring to say the least. Adalind couldn't trust him but then she had to, if it meant getting Nick back home safely. It was too bad his offer to help was pointless.

"No, it's Hexenbiest blood that opens the portal, not Zauberbiest blood. There's a difference. And even if I opened the portal you still wouldn't be able to go through. That's not how the spell works."

"Then we find a way to get me in, because I'm not letting this thing anywhere near my daughter."

"We've all been looking and judging from the silence on all fronts, I'd say everyone else has come up empty." She spoke too soon.

"Well, here it is." Monroe hurried into the middle of the room holding a massive book between his hands. "It's my family bible, the wesen version I mean. It has been passed down on my father's side since 1598." He said with near total reverence.

Both Adalind and Sean looked at the Blutbad blankly, expecting him to continue, Adalind couldn't imagine how a family Bible could help them right now apart from saying a prayer or three for a miracle.

"The Abrahamic belief is that the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death and that hell is ruled by a fallen angel.

"This is not the time for bible study." Sean said petulantly, his patience at an all-time low.

"No, no, no, this is apropos. If we think of this other place as that plane and the skull guy is the fallen angel, AKA the devil, Satan, Lucifer, whatever you want to call him, I mean, maybe it's not hell per se."

Monroe opened to a particular page that showed a painting showing animal like beings slaughtering one another, crude and violent, thought Adalind. It was ages since she last read the Bible, at least a portion of it while rebelling against her mother but Adalind didn't remember reading in it anything that depicted what this simple drawing showed.

"Well, it looks a lot like it." Said Sean.

"Not exactly. It's different. For instance there's no lava, no fire, no brimstone. It looks like a garden. Now, I'm not saying the Garden of Eden, but I'm not not saying the Garden of Eden. The prophecy heralds a world overrun by beasts, but the fires of hell rage within the beast, not on the land." Monroe turned a few pages at what looked like a sketch of an old man, whose face was hollowed as if from starvation, like a human skull. He was holding a long staff in the one hand.

"I thought the devil carried a pitchfork." She interjected Monroe's wesen bible lesson.

"Yeah, while this is all really interesting, I don't think it's helping us get to where Nick is, said Sean.

"Well, technically it's a trident. I mean, he's not a farmer. Or if he is, he's the scorched soul kind?" Said Monroe, ignoring Sean but a thought suddenly sprang to Adalind's mind.

"A world overrun by beasts…Sean…?" She turned to the man on her right.

"…What?"

"Do you know what Bonaparte wanted; I mean what really wanted with our daughter? Did he ever tell you?"

"You know what he wanted, you were there."

"That's what I thought too but looking at these drawing, I'm starting to think otherwise. When you joined Black Claw…"

"I thought we were over this," Sean huffed angrily.

"Just…humour me, did Bonaparte ever tell you why Diana was so important to his plans? He basically gave me the speech on the importance of family but I wasn't stupid. I knew he wanted Diana for her powers, like everyone else and I knew he knew he couldn't control her that's why he came to me but now I think something else was at play here. 'Our world will be more violent, more primitive, but that is the only way to true progress,' that's what he said to me once. I don't know whether he was trying to convince me to join Black Claw or threaten me at the time from siding with Nick. Who am I kidding he threatened me the very first day I met him until the very last time I saw him.

"Bonaparte said that to you?" Sean said as if he was suddenly confused. "That's what I told Nick on the night you came to the mansion. I told him that it was time for the wesen to come out of the shadows."

"It figures. I'm sure you thought you were the big dog, you were going to be mayor of Portland with aspirations for the Oval Office but I seems like you were nothing more than a dog trained to sit and roll over at his master's command, you didn't even realise you were regurgitating that lunatic's mantra." In typical fashion, Monroe spoke without thinking and Sean woged in anger, ready to attack after being insulted and Monroe woged at the pending threat.

"Hey!" shouted Adalind, forcing their attention away from each other and back to her. "All eyes on me! What I was trying to get at was that what if Bonaparte was a follower of this skull guy, like a disciple or some obsessed fan or something because everything Monroe showed us in this book sounds eerily close to Bonaparte and what he planned for Portland and the rest of the world. Sean you worked close with the man. Occultatum Libera!"

"…Free what's hidden." Both men said at once.

"What are you saying exactly?"

"She's saying Bonaparte used you both to try and groom Diana for her pending nuptials to this skull guy."

Adalind gave Monroe a look. "Well, I wouldn't have put it quite so crudely but yes, that's partly what I meant."

"Sorry," Monroe apologised sheepishly to which Adalind gave a curt nod.

"What if Bonaparte wasn't trying to create a world where wesen could live in the open with the Kehrseite but instead was preparing the world for this skull man, a world similar to what in this book. I think Bonaparte used us both because he needed Diana for something bigger than the Mayor's or president's office. It's possible Bonaparte knew about the prophecy about the Shaphat and he knew something about Diana that neither of us knew…. Bonaparte came to you and dangled a carrot in front of you and a stick in front of me to get what he wanted, Diana." Adalind explained.

"No…." Sean quietly said.

"It makes sense," Monroe chimed in.

For a moment, Sean looked contemplative, almost guilt-ridden.

Earlier he'd blamed Adalind for endangering their child and she had wanted to make him taste the same bitterness of knowing he wasn't so spotless either. Under different circumstances, Adalind would have taken pleasure in taking Sean down a few pegs from his lofty throne but there was no pleasure in that because this was about Diana. She watched as Sean's face twisted from an expression of confusion to horror at the realisation that he'd basically sided with the very people that wanted to hurt his daughter. She actually pitied him. It wasn't so nice to realise just how much their choices hurt those they loved the most, Adalind knew this all too well.

"What I still don't get is why her, of all the children in the world what did this guy pick your daughter."

"Why not? My father wanted her and I can promise you it had nothing to do with him being a doting grandfather. The Resistance wanted her, to use against my father and the other six Royal houses. Hell, everybody wanted her. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that some other worldly being is amongst those that want to use my daughter for their end game." Sean said.

"But this isn't just anyone Sean. Your father is dead. Who knows what's happened to the Resistence. They were just people looking to use our daughter to add more power to fight their enemies."

"Exactly, this being is already powerful if it's the one your friend spoke of and the same one as in this book. Why does he want Diana specifically as opposed to some other child? I know she's powerful, it's rare for a Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest to not kill each other long enough to conceive a child. I'm not saying it doesn't happen at all, only that it's infrequent. Your kind aren't exactly friendly, if you get my meaning. And if you really want to talk about rare, possibly first of his kind, you only have to look at baby Kelly Schade Burkhardt, a Grimm and a Hexenbiest offspring, those definitely don't come by so easily, if ever. What is it about Diana that this thing is after her?"

"I think that's maybe my fault," said Adalind. Both men turned to face her.

It is what has weighed heavily on her mind since the conversation with Dasha. Adalind had done her best to try to put it out of her mind, the thought of destinies and prophecies. Just because she didn't believe in any of it, didn't mean she could simply ignore the series of seemingly random events that were beginning to come together in a significant way, meaningful coincidences.

"You are right about the child of a Hexenbiest and a Zauberbiest and that Diana is in fact more than that. We all know what happened. I lost my powers and then I got them back. I underwent a certain ritual whilst pregnant with her. I always assumed that the ritual heightened her abilities but I could never be certain."

"The Contaminatio Ritualis?" asked Monroe.

"Yes, but that seems inadequate to me. I became a Hexenbiest again but Diana was already one. It's not as if she got a double dosage, she was a Hexenbiest but for her powers to manifest while in utero was unheard of. They don't even show in the same way, like her woge, if you could call it that. Diana's powers go way beyond what's normal and not normal. I know that Eve, back when she was still operating at full strength was even afraid of Diana's true power and she's barely three years old."

She looked at the two men uncertain but already determined to unburden herself, if it meant helping the two people she loved.

"I made a deal with a Romanian Gypsy, a Hexebiest for a child of Royal blood. I was stupid and desperate. Stefania forced me sign the contract before I could even read what was on it, so even if I wanted to back out of the deal, I couldn't. In the end, I reneged on the deal and ran away with my baby. It turns out there was something much stronger in me than my desire to become a Hexenbiest again." She said as she looked at Sean expecting judgement. Adalind wasn't proud of what she did back then, at least Sean had the decency to be shame faced because of everything that had happened that lead to Adalind losing her powers in the first place.

"Do you think there's something in that contract that could help us?" Asked Monroe.

"I don't know…maybe…maybe not. It was so long ago. Stefania never gave me a copy of the contract and after I ran, I wanted to forget the whole thing. Then I lost Diana and I just focused on getting my baby back. Everything got out of control after that."

"I guess we'll have to work with what we do have, especially if it's about getting Nick and Eve back to this dimension," said Sean.

"I thought you were only here for your daughter?" She asked but there was no malice in it. If Sean was in, he had to be all in.

"It's going to take all of us to stop this thing if we are going to protect Diana."

"And I think I have an idea. I know how to make sure all us can do just that but you're not gonna like it."

"Why?" turned to Monroe.

"What did your friend call Diana?"

"The Shaphat," replied Sean stiffly.

"Right, and if what she suggests is true, my thinking is, Diana's got a lot of clout in this other place, probably more so than she already does this side of the mirror. We know she can do some pretty amazing things already, like appear in places she isn't and read markings on a cloth that we cannot see. She already knew about the other place long before any of us could hazard a guess, and she knows something wicked is this way is coming. So if anyone could open the door…"

"No, absolutely not!" yelled Adalind protectively, standing between Monroe and the living area where Diana lay sleeping.

"If we just give her the stick…."

"No, she's not going in there and we don't know what the stick will do to her, remember Eve?" It was Sean's turn to protest, two against one.

"Right, the stick…. But who knows, it may not do what we think it will do. I mean this is Diana. I'm not saying for her to go through the mirror. I'm saying to let her open the doorway the same way Nick did, and then Renard and I can go in there and get Nick and Eve back."

"How would you get back?" she wanted to scream but reigned back her emotions.

It was a crazy plan with plenty of holes and Adalind would never subject Diana to anything that may hurt her or worse, get her closer to that monster. "I'm going in there. I'm the only one who can." She decided and ignoring this little voice in the back of her mind warning her that Nick would not be happy to find her on the other side.

"Look, I'm not so sure. You may be able to open it, but it might be possible for me to go in instead of you." Sean argued his point once more. They began to argue back and forth the merits and demerits of using Diana's abilities or letting Adalind open the portal and let her pass through.

Monroe's phone rang.

"Okay, I think you're right. I think Adalind's the only option, and we should do it, but you should, like have a rope tied around you or something, just…hey, what's up?" he said to the caller on the phone.

But before they knew what was happening they all heard and felt a rumbling noise like thunder reverberating throughout the house, it was coming from the living room….

"Diana!" She and Sean yelled at once, running towards their daughter who stood in front of the mirror, mysterious magic stick in hand.

"No. No, no! Don't open it! Close it! Diana, stop! Stop!" Yelled Monroe too late, the portal was open.

"No, Diana, close it!" cried out her father as he tried to pull Diana away from the portal but it was all futile. The portal would remain until someone or thing passed through it.

A force much like an explosion blew them all away. Adalind heard the mirror shatter into a million pieces as she tried to get her bearings. That's when she saw him.

"Mommy it worked. I got Nick back for you." He daughter exclaimed joyously.

"Nick," Adalind quickly knelt in front of him, still in shock that he was there in the flesh, alive and unharmed. She immediately flung her arms round his neck in an emotional hug. She felt his arms circle her waist with shaky but equal fervour. Nick was home. "I'm so glad you're okay." Adalind told the man she loved more than life itself.

"What happened?" it was Eve that asked.

"Diana used the stick." Replied Sean as he held Diana tightly, like he was afraid to let her go.

"I-I don't think that's such a good thing. I mean, you guys are back, and that's a good thing, but Rosalee said…"

"Monroe, what did she say?" Adalind turned to the Blutbad impatiently.

"She said not to open the portal because you wouldn't come back alone." Monroe said while looking at Nick.

"Are we alone?" Nick asked suddenly.

"Seems like it," said Sean.

"Whatever tried to piggyback a ride probably didn't stand a chance because the mirror's, like, totally shattered."

While trying to make sense of what just happened, Rosalee, Hank and Wu burst into the house.

"Nick…is everyone okay?" asked Hank his weapon trained as though expecting a threat.

"Monroe! What happened?" Rosalee flew into her husband's arms.

"Wait, the skull guy's not here?" Wu interjected.

"Nobody came back with them? Maybe the book was wrong." Rosalee said, almost breathless. Whatever she discovered clearly had her spooked that she rushed all the way from the spice shop.

"Why did you call me to tell me not to open the portal? I mean, what did you find out?" Monroe asked what they all wanted to know.

Rosalee turned to Nick, "We think you were tricked by the skull guy."

"He was there. We were trying to kill him," said Eve, her voice a combination of disappointment and maybe relief.

"He could've killed us, but he didn't," added Nick."

Well, I'm certainly glad he didn't," Adalind said as her arm tightened around him. She wasn't ready to lose Nick just yet, not ever, if she had her way.

"No, he needed you there to open the way from his side so he could cross over with you."

"That doesn't make any sense," Eve spoke.

"This day was predicted from all the symbols on the cloth. We think that everything is supposed to happen today, March 24th, remember? It's like he was waiting for you to come to him so you could open the door for him to come here. Were you followed?" Rosalee said.

"I don't know. I don't think so," said Eve suddenly wary of the implication of her actions.

"Well, then maybe he didn't make it here as predicted." Wu added hopeful.

"We better hope he didn't." Nick growled.

Prophecies. Destinies. Fate. It all circled back to that. Sean's quest for the key, Nick taking Adalind's powers, the ritual to get them back, Nick's mother saving Adalind from the Royals, Nick and Adalind coming together against the odds, the symbols on the cloth and Diana reading them, Eve jumping into the portal with Nick following closely behind her. There was no escaping how all of their fates were intricately tied together whether she believed in any of it or not.

Was she fated to run into Nick that one afternoon all of those years ago? She'd never seen a Grimm before although she knew all about them. There was something peculiar in the air. She sensed it because her blood came alive when their eyes met and inexplicably, Adalind woged. She wasn't threatened, she wasn't even emotionally compromised to garner that reaction. In fact, she'd been flattered at the thought of being the object of his desire. She shouldn't have woged at all but she did and their lives had been tied together ever since, first in an adversarial battle of dominance and violence but now as lovers. To this day, Adalind has never been able to explain how her relationship with Nick changed so dramatically.

She watched him as he spoke of the other place. The skull man was called Zerstörer, the Destroyer. That sent a chill down her spine. Nick sat not more than a foot away from her, on the coffee table. Adalind could feel the heat radiating from his body as he recounted everything he saw. Every now and then, their knees would touch or he'd place his hand protectively across her knee when he described his encounter with Zerstörer. The other side sounded very much like what Bonaparte had planned and creepily much like the place described in Monroe's family bible, which meant her conjecture from earlier, hadn't been far from the truth if not exactly accurate.

Diana began to hyperventilate.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Adalind turned towards her daughter.

"Diana, are you okay?" Asked Sean.

"No. No, no, no, no, no!" Diana shrieked, "He's coming! He's coming! He's coming!" she repeated repeatedly, piercing Adalind's heart with unspeakable fear.

"He's here," cried Diana.

"Honey, we're not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?" said Sean.

"Don't let him find me. Please, don't let him find me."

"Do you know where he is? We'll protect you, no matter what. You're safe." Nick promised.

"We're not gonna let anybody near you," reiterated Wu.

"Honey, come with me, okay? Come on." Adalind led Diana away from the group hoping to calm her down. It took some effort but Adalind managed to get Diana to fall asleep although she wasn't certain what good it would do all of them knowing this Zerstörer was now in Portland. Adalind wanted to run, to take Nick and her children and run as far from this place as possible. She heard heavy footsteps from behind and turned to find Nick watching her.

"Let's run," she wanted to say to him but Adalind choked on the words. It wasn't like Nick to just up and leave everything and everyone else behind. And she knew it wasn't like Nick to walk away from taking on this Destroyer head on, she could already see it in his eyes. His mind was already made up. She would go and hide and he would stay and fight. "Let's run away together," was the cry of her heart as it thundered in her chest and ears.

Nick pulled her close to him.

"I'm taking you somewhere to hide Diana." He said as he rubbed his hand reassuringly up and down the back of her arm. Adalind wanted to curl into his arms and get lost in them forever but he had other plans.

"Well, I'm not leaving you!" Adalind said hastily. He couldn't ask her to do that, not after what happened earlier when he went through the mirror and she didn't know if she'd ever see him again. "Don't…." she added.

"You can't stay with me. It's not safe." He reasoned with her, his eyes already pleading with her to do as he asked. "I need to go after Zerstörer and make sure he doesn't find you or Diana and Kelly. I can't do that, I can't stop him if I'm worried about you and the kids, please…." He took a step forward, closing the gap between them.

"We're in this together, remember? You and me. We promised each other after Bonaparte."

"This…this is different," he said as he lifted a finger to her chin, and forcing their eyes to lock. "Don't ask me to risk losing you. I…I will not make it if anything ever happened to you." His voice cracked as he brushed the tip of his nose against hers.

"…And I, you." She added before lifting her lips to join his.

"You won't be staying at the loft, Zerstörer knows about it. We'll grab some things, whatever we need and after, I'll take you this cabin in the woods."

"The woods?" she didn't mean to sound sceptical but that didn't inspire any confidence. That meant isolation, what if they needed to make a quick escape? Nick seemed to read her mind because he answered and said, "He won't know about it and there's not a lot of opportunities for him to jump through any mirrors, not from what I remember the last time I was there."

He seemed very certain of his plan.

"…And I'll be there. I won't let this thing anywhere near us." Sean interrupted their private moment to offer more of his assistance even though he wasn't asked this time. That was all fine and dandy but she wanted Nick instead. She needed him to be by her side.

The plan was to use the Nuukh Suens spell on Diana, to shield her from all who sought after her. It wasn't much but at least it would stall this Zerstörer long enough for them to find a way to stop him. She only relented to Nick's plan to separate by requesting they get the rest of her mother's books from the storage unit. She wasn't going to sit idly by waiting for this thing to find them.

"He won't find you." Nick tried to reassure her.

"I called Viktor," said Sean suddenly.

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"We need to find out as much as we can about any of this, if there's something in that contract, some small detail that could help answer why this bastard is after our daughter, we need it now. Knowing Viktor and what a stickler he is for detail, I'm certain he has a copy of that contract. I asked him to forward it to me as quickly as possible." He explained to them.

"We're ready," Rosalee peered round the corner, and tilted her head towards Diana.

"…Alright, I guess it's now or never." Adalind said and turned around to go wake Diana for the umpteenth time that night.

Adalind performed the spell as required and hoped it would hold up as long as they needed before they all shuffled back into their vehicles and headed to their respective destinations, each with a mission to accomplish. Nick and Adalind first went to the storage facility to pick up the rest of her mother's books. They were five minutes away when Nick finally turned towards her and asked her a question.

"What contract was Renard talking about?"

"The one I signed in order to get my powers back."

"Oh."

"I didn't sign it exactly, at least not with a pen. Stefania forced my hand on to the contract and using magic, she drained vapour-sized droplets of my blood on to the paper. It burnt like crazy. I didn't have time to read the contract before it was all done. Earlier today, we thought maybe Stefania did a lot more than just give me back my powers."

"And you think this Stefania woman was in league with Zerstörer?"

"I don't know what to think. I thought Bonaparte just wanted to take over the world but now it's looking more and more like he was working towards Zerstörer's release from the other world and knew about Diana and her being this Shaphat. Stefania's ritual did more than restore my abilities. She gave me specific instructions that involved applying…this goop over my belly, in fact she insisted on it. Did she know all along what would happen? Maybe. Maybe not. When Sean died and his mother brought him back, she knew the risks and did it anyway. An evil spirit attached itself to Sean; maybe something's attached itself to Diana because of me…."

"Hey, look at me. None of this is your fault." Nick said forcefully.

"It's hard not to think of it that way. I mean let's be real here."

"Adalind, you're not to blame for what's going on. It's not like I didn't play my part along the way. If I didn' take your powers away that night…."

She looked at him knowing what he was going to say. If she wasn't to blame then who was because it certainly wasn't Nick's fault? He only took her powers away in order to save his partner and she'd cursed Hank because Sean told her to. Sean sent her after Nick's friends because he wanted that stupid key which started this whole mess. So who was to blame, where did the buck stop? Nick raked his hand through his dark hair.

"You heard Rosalee and Monroe, everything that's happened, everything that's happening, it was predicted."

"You do know that it's not that simple right. I can't believe that just because it was written in the stars or some old book that this beast or devil was after my baby girl absolved me of every bad thing I did before and after I brought her into this world. If only I didn't help my mother to pay her own debts. If only I never listened to Sean in the first place and went after your aunt over that stupid key. If only….

"You can't think like that. We can't go back and change things and I don't want to go back. If I never met you…I can't, I don't even want to imagine my life without you or Kelly and Diana in it. We're here in this moment now and we just have to keep our heads and beat this thing so we can finally get to live our lives in peace."

"Do you think that's even possible?"

"I can't think otherwise."

"I really want to believe that. I want that more than anything in the world."

"Me too," he said as he took her left hand in his and squeezing it tightly.

They retrieved all of her mother's books and packed up his truck with everything else they needed from the loft. They didn't know how long they would hide out in the cabin so an oversupply of food, diapers and a change of clothing filled the back of Nick's Cruiser. Sean and Diana were already there, his SUV was already parked outside the cabin.

"After that day when we first saw each other, this place…this is where it all started for me." Nick said as he helped her out of from the passenger side.

"I've got some pretty fond memories here too." They heard Sean speak as he walked towards them from the cabin, Diana following closely behind him.

"What were you doing here?" Adalind asked Sean.

"Nick and I met here to settle our differences about the key."

"Oh…that." Adalind sighed.

"Yeah, we both decided it couldn't fall into your hands." Sean added.

Nick stepped right behind Adalind.

"…When you were working for the Royals," Nick s's voice was low but not accusatory.

"That was before I had a baby with you." She smiled in his direction. "Or you," she looked Sean's way.

"Simpler times." Nick said before emptying his Cruiser of their belongings.

He led them all inside the cabin

"It doesn't look like anybody's been here for years." She said as she looked around her. The cabin looked old and strange with the furniture around them a mixture of big and small. Adalind got a weird sense of foreboding about the place as she passed a frilly tiny rocking chair, something that could easily fit Diana. What was this place?

"What happened to the owner?" asked Renard.

"He was my first Blutbad."

"I assume you didn't arrest him, then." Mused Renard. Adalind was afraid to ask nick to elaborate, suspecting she wouldn't like the answer.

"He didn't really give us much of a choice." Nick said and opened a trap door on the wooden floor that led down into the basement even stranger than the space over their heads.

"That's a pretty bed. Did a girl live here?" asked Diana.

"Not for long."

"How long do we have to stay here?" Diana asked another valid question.

"I'm not sure, honey," replied Sean.

"We have to keep you safe," added Adalind despite this cabin giving her the creeps. Nick felt this was the safest place for them and she trusted Nick.

"So he won't find me here?" said Diana.

"Hey he's never gonna find you, okay?"

"No, he won't. I'm going back to the precinct to help Hank and Wu. Call me if you need anything." Nick told Adalind.

He was leaving her again. Adalind wasn't ready for this, to be separated from him for God knew how long. It was too soon. He turned to their son still in his car seat and leaned over him.

"I love you, son." He gently uttered the endearment like he was saying goodbye, it cut Adalind deep in her soul This wasn't goodbye, she told herself. Nick turned towards Adalind. She could read the expression on his face. He didn't know when he'd return, if ever. They embraced one another fiercely, forgetting the audience standing awkwardly next to them. Nick and Adalind separated and she watched him as he made his way up the steep wooden steps and possibly out of her life for good. She looked about her, tears threatening to burst forth. She even eyed Renard looking at her with pity. He actually felt sorry for her and she wanted to scream to take his pity and shove it where the sun don't shine. Instead, she ran upstairs, after Nick. She couldn't let him leave, not without saying everything that needed to be said between them.

"Nick!" she called out to him in a puff of cold air between them.

He stopped and turned around.

"I thought I lost you once already tonight. Please be careful." She pleaded with him.

His chest heaved once up and down before he could respond. Adalind saw the look in his eyes change from one of determination and finally to submission to an unseen force. He took one step forward and plunged her mouth, possessing her wholly and completely. She could remain like this forever, she thought as she savoured the taste of him but then Nick pulled away from her. No, she thought tearfully.

"I love you." He said with finality. It was a goodbye.

"I love you." She replied in kind and quickly wrapped him into her arms. She could feel the tension in his body ebb away as he sagged into her embrace one last time before they both pulled apart and away from the other reluctantly. Nick took several steps backwards, like he was committing her into memory and didn't want to waste their last moments together.

He got into his truck and just like that, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one more chapter to go after this. Thank you to everyone who's followed my musings over Nick and Adalind and their relationship. Thank you for reading and writing me feedback. Thank you and God bless you all.


	13. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the very last chapter. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this story as well as to those who left reviews, it kept me going. I know how frustrating it was to wait for an update, it was even more so when I couldn't post one. I apologise in advance for any errors in the following, I did some shoddy editing work and considering how little time I have had recently, I opted to post the story versus no story at all for a while yet. I did my best to add my own personal touch, tying loose ends but I also didn't feel like repeating everything we saw on screen unless I could add something to it. I hope you enjoy and God bless you all.

Nick's heart nearly gave out when he heard his name on her lips and turned to find a pair of bright blue eyes brimming with a strength and selflessness that confounded him still. They had been there before, he thought wryly. The last time, they had stood in the middle of their loft on the night before he left for Germany and Adalind was so uncertain of the future. He'd been eager, back then, to get to the Black Forest and find the buried treasure. He thought nothing of leaving her behind because he believed he'd come back. Just as before, Adalind was letting him go to do what he had to do in spite of the pain he knew it caused her, only now he wasn't so certain of their future. It dawned on Nick that this could be their last time together and so he finally said the words he'd guarded in his heart so selfishly for months.

"I love you," he said effortlessly.

"I love you," she sighed almost breathlessly, her eyes dancing sweetly for him under the moonlight.

Adalind's arms swiftly enveloped him, holding him tightly.

How could he leave her? He'd sooner cut out his own heart but his duty beckoned him, like the cursed siren's cry.

He reluctantly broke away from her, got into his truck without any further goodbyes. Why tell her goodbye when he had every intention to return to her side?

Nick watched her distinct form get smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror until the trees eventually hid her completely from his sight. He would come back for her, and for his family. He reassured himself repeatedly, the only outcome he dared to entertain, Zerstörer be damned!

Although Sean Renard had volunteered to protect his family, it took everything within Nick to walk away as he did, leaving the most precious people in his life in the hands of his Captain, once ally turned enemy and now…ally once again. He had to trust that man, the same man that tried to put Nick in prison under false pretences, the same man that tried to kill Nick at the first chance he got, the same man that stood by as Bonaparte nearly choked Adalind to death because she refused to reveal the location of their loft. Nick could feel his hands twitch tensely as he barely quashed the doubts flooding his mind over his Captain. He didn't trust the man but for the first time in years, Nick had no other choice.

As he made his way back into the city, his mind should be trained on finding and stopping Zerstörer but Nick's thoughts drifted back to Adalind. He couldn't help replaying their last moments together. He'd finally told Adalind he loved her, something he should have done upon returning from Germany but Nick was a coward. He could stare death in the face and never flinch but the thought of telling the woman he loved how he truly felt about her had robbed him of all courage. It galled him how he'd made excuse after excuse to justify his reticence, such as how "it was too soon after Juliette" or that "she was a Hexenbiest again and lying to his face". When that no longer mattered after Bonaparte, he simply made up more excuses, more arbitrary than the last. So much time he wasted and now it could be too late….

Too late to be happy and free to enjoy what he never thought he would find, but he couldn't think like that. He couldn't afford to.

Nick had fallen true and hard for Adalind Schade, he thought without hesitation or regret.

In truth, he didn't intend for it to happen yet it did, to look beyond the 'biest and see the real woman, her strength and forbearance. His ancestors' books told him he should have hated her until her dying breath and she, him and they both knew it but something beyond themselves set them on a different path. Monroe talked about predestination, how everything that ever happened, happened to bring them all into this point in time, a conspiracy among the stars working behind the scenes to an end, he hoped a good one.

He would never forget the day Adalind came to him in the precinct, her belly round and full. That day would forever be etched in his mind, her defiance and courage in the midst of her enemies. Although he couldn't have admitted it at the time, the encounter at the precinct wasn't the first time that Nick had seen the real Adalind, the woman with whom he'd soon fall in love. He'd gotten a fraction of a glimpse much earlier one night, years ago when Adalind had stood cold and wet, in the middle of his house holding a tiny bundle in her arms but too much anger and resentment had blinded him back then.

"You're choosing her over me!" Juliette had viciously accused him as she confronted him in the hallway of his precinct. Nick had denied it. He was choosing his son, even though Adalind had presented him with zero evidence of his paternity. Nick took her at her word. One look in Adalind's eyes, that's all it took to know the truth. He could always read her like a book. Thus, he found himself planted firmly between the two women and whether or not he realised it at the time, Juliette was right. Nick did choose Adalind.

That wasn't all he remembered.

Eve told him just as much when they were both trapped in the other dimension. It wasn't an accusation. It was a coming to terms with the truth that was before them, that had perhaps evaded even Nick. From the moment Nick met Adalind, he'd chosen her over others whether unwittingly or purposefully. When the queen Mellifer threatened Adalind, Melissa Wincroft was the one who ended up with two fatal gunshot wounds to the chest. When he discovered that Adalind was Hank's date one evening when they went on a double date, instead of exposing her to his partner and Juliette, he kept her duplicity secret. When Hank's life hung in the balance after she cursed him, of the million-and-one things he could have done to get his blood into her system, Nick fervently kissed Adalind. He told himself it was the only way to make sure she'd taste his blood.

Memories, some recent, others nearly forgotten flickered in his mind as he attempted to trace that single moment when his feelings for Adalind changed. He loved her. He adored her, impossible though it seemed. He went through his…their past together searching for the impossible as though he could will himself to relive the past with fresh understanding. Could he have done things differently, had he known all along just how precious she would be to him? Adalind had become an extension of him. A connective tissue had formed between them in secret, hidden, as it grew neither unhindered nor impaired.

So much time wasted.

*/*/*

Nick flew across town to catch up with Hank and Wu. Zerstörer hadn't hesitated to pile on the bodies beginning at the gas station. When he arrived, the place had been littered with dead bats. He concluded that they were the same bats Zerstörer had used to attack him and Eve in the other dimension but Nick couldn't account for why they were all dead. He also discovered that Zerstörer could woge into human form and his first thought was to call Adalind and warn her. Renard had offered to trade places with Nick as if Nick was standing idly by, doing nothing while this thing hunted Nick's family. It killed him to be away from them but he was their best chance at surviving and as much as it galled him to admit, Renard knew it to be true.

Nick hadn't finished walking the crime scene when Eve called him and asked him to stop by the spice shop alone.

"It's urgent." She insisted.

Nick found the back door unlocked and made his way into the basement, where the rest of the gang was no doubt waiting for him. To his surprise and relief, Teresa Rubel was also there.

"Trubel," he heaved excitedly.

"Nick!" she called out to him as they embraced tightly.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right." She said.

He wanted to know everything, when she returned, Black Claw.

"Black Claw's done. The war's over."

"There's nothing left?" He asked.

"Every cell was destroyed."

That was a relief. If Bonaparte was truly aligned with Zerstörer, without Black Claw to pave the way for him, there was a chance they could defeat him, he thought as a sliver of hope crept into his heart.

"Nick, that's not why I'm here, I came because I had a feeling something terrible was happening and it looks like I may be right."

"Which brings us to the stick," interjected Monroe.

What followed next was a rundown of the possible history behind the stick, why it was so important and so powerful, yet another reason for Zerstörer to cross into their world.

"But I thought he was after Diana?" Nick pointed out.

"We think he's after both. Think about it. He's got the most powerful staff in the world but he's got a piece missing and Diana is the most powerful Hexenbiest in the world. What do people with power want?" Monroe asked rhetorically.

"More power," Nick answered.

"Exactly!" His friend exclaimed.

"Do we know who had the other pieces of the staff before he could put it back together?" He turned to the rest of the group.

"Unfortunately any information about our stick was lost when they sacked Constantinople," Monroe reiterated.

"What are you thinking?" Rosalee asked him.

"We know seven Grimm buried the stick. We know that I can handle the stick without suffering any problems. Zerstörer knew I was a Grimm when he first saw me and he's been two steps ahead of us this entire time. He's been playing us from the very beginning. It's possible he knows I have the stick. In the other place, he threw us around making a show of his power. He could have killed us a hundred times over but he didn't."

"Yeah, that was because he knew he needed a Grimm to cross over."

"True, but what if that's not all it was?"

"He's been stuck in that place with no way of opening the portal. I couldn't open the portal from this side except with the stick."

"So you think he knows you have the stick? Well, he sure as hell better not get a hold of it then!" Trubel said sternly.

Nick's phone rang.

"It's Hank. You're on speaker." He told his partner.

"Nick, we just got a hit on the APB. He's not even trying to keep a low profile," said Hank.

"You need to hear this," said Nick and then he proceeded to tell his colleagues everything that his friends had discovered.

"There's something that just occurred to me. Earlier, Diana said 'He's coming, he's coming' repeatedly. Hank, a few years ago we worked on a case, Melissa Wincroft."

"Oh yeah, I remember her," said Monroe.

"What about her?" his partner asked.

"She was a Mellifer, a queen to be exact."

Monroe then went into explaining what Mellifers were and what they did.

"Anyway, there's something I never told you. Before she died, she said something to me that I didn't take as seriously as I should have at the time. I had just become a Grimm so I was struggling with everything that was happening to me and what that meant," he said as he eyed Eve warily.

Nick explained to them how Adalind's firm had targeted Melissa Wincroft's mill in a hostile takeover because of what she knew, how they were afraid she'd warn him in time to prevent some calamity from happening.

"Before she died, she told me he was coming for me. She said 'Beware…it is close'. Melissa had used the words 'He' and 'It' interchangeably. At first, I thought she was referring to the Royal in Portland and some event related to him. I knew that Adalind had a connection to him but I never figured it out until much later and nothing major came of it. Maybe I was wrong the whole time. I'm thinking the queen Mellifer was talking about Zerstörer. He was the 'It' she tried warning me about and I was too stupid to realise." He sneered at the memory.

They all looked at him as the pieces began shifting into place. A picture had begun to form in his mind, mocking him for not figuring it out all those years ago.

"She was so desperate to convince me. She had already killed two of the three Hexenbiests that worked her case. It never made sense to me why she went after the lawyers and not Ameri-Mill, the company that swallowed up her family business. She didn't even go after Harrison Berman and his senior partners who'd assigned the case to Adalind and her co-workers. She insisted on killing Adalind as if that alone would make things right. It was a conspiracy, she said. For a woman that committed two murders, she wasn't so cut up about losing her family's newspaper mill. I should have done more, demanded she tell me everything she knew but it all happened so fast….

"Adalind's law firm used Ameri-Mill to silence Melissa Wincroft. After Kelly, Adalind went back to Berman, Rautbort, and Associates after a run in with a colleague claiming Berman would hire her back in an instant. I was suspicious about the job offer from out of nowhere but things between Adalind and me were still tenuous at that time so I said nothing. Later, Berman personally introduced Conrad Bonaparte to Adalind at her law firm threatening my son unless she did what they wanted. I may be grasping here but that's simply too many coincidences for me to ignore. I'm willing to bet when Viktor finds that contract that Adalind signed, we'll find a connection between Zerstörer and Diana which will make three for three." He said grimly.

A chill went down his spine. The queen Mellifer had been more determined to kill Adalind to stop whatever she tried to warn him about from ever happening. She was a clarion, and as his books said, she was trying to balance the ecotone but Monroe had called them nothing but gossips. Melissa clearly knew something big was about to happen and that it involved a Hexenbiest only she didn't know which until Adalind took on Ameri-Mill as a client. Apart from trying to warn him, she had killed two Hexenbiest and would have killed Adalind had he not shot and killed her. Nick had saved Adalind's life at a time when her death would have suited him more at the time. After the night he'd had with jumping through portals and hearing about prophecies and destinies, it was easy to let his emotions be carried away with all this information slowly coming to light.

Without Adalind, Hank would never have almost died. Nick would never have taken her powers. Adalind would never have slept with Renard, thus conceiving Diana. Adalind would never have gone to Stefania to get her powers back. His mother would never have taken Diana from her. Adalind would never have taken his powers, thus conceiving his son. Juliette would never have become a Hexenbiest. His mother would never have died. He would never have gone to the Black Forest to find the treasure. Black Claw would never have taken Diana and used Adalind and his son against him.

Adalind. Adalind. Adalind.

He remembered her blaming herself for everything that had happened as they drove to the cabin but it was crazy to think so then as it was crazy to think so now. Juliette and Eve's words also came back to him, Nick had chosen Adalind over Melissa Wincroft like every other time after that and he had to believe it was for a reason.

"We need to find a way to stop him. We have all of these books. There has to be a way." Rosalee said, her voice cracking from the strain they all faced.

"And we will," he said and watched as Monroe pulled his wife to his side to comfort her. He thought of Adalind, how every fibre in his being yearned for her, to be by her side and know that she was safe. However, first thing first, he had to find Zerstörer and kill him, he thought determinedly.

"We know he's still in the area. According to the surveillance camera, he was three blocks west of Hawthorne Bridge. There's probably more bodies besides the one attacked by a giant snake if this report is correct.

"I tried shooting this guy in his world. It didn't work." He told his partner.

"He's in our world now. We're headed back to the precinct to weapon up, as much as we can carry" Hank said on the other end of the line.

"I'll meet you there," said Nick and hung up the call. "We all need to be careful from this point forward."

"I'm going to Hawthorne Bridge," said Trubel, one more person for Nick to worry about but he tempered down his thoughts. Trubel was a Grimm just like him. She wasn't one to sit idly by and do nothing when there was a big bad to kill and she knew how to take care of herself. Nick realised he had to trust her, as well as his friends that that would all make it out of this alive.

"If you see Zerstörer, don't do anything. Call me." He cautioned her still.

"Hey Buddy, we'll do our part and keep looking through the books to find a way to beat this thing." Monroe assured him.

He gave his friend a nod and turned to leave but Eve stopped him, "Whatever you do, don't let that stick out of your control. It may be the only power you have against Zerstörer," she said as if he didn't know. He could already feel the heaviness tucked away inside his coat jacket weighing him down. As long as he had the stick, he still had the advantage.

*/*/*

They were dead, Hank, Wu and Eve. Nick had tried to use the stick to heal them as it he'd used it before but nothing. Both times Zerstörer toyed with him as he watched helpless while he his friends died. If he had any doubts before, Zerstörer certainly alleviated most of them, the stick was the only reason he was alive, but why? He wondered. Why was he still alive while his friends were dead? It couldn't be because of the stick protecting him as that illusion had dissipated like a puff of smoke on a windy day when he tried using it to bring is friends back and failed spectacularly. The stick was useless to him now yet Zerstörer failed to take it from him on two separate occasions and Nick couldn't understand why.

He had lost so much already but there was no time to linger on his losses when he had so much more to lose, especially after learning through Diana that Zerstörer was also coming after his precious boy. He had heard the fear as well as the defiance in Adalind's voice as she told him of Diana's dream. Nick had ordered Trubel to the cabin, much to her frustration but Nick wanted at least one Grimm to be with his family while he hunted down this demon, evil incarnate. He had even sent Monroe and Rosalee ahead of him to the cabin with a possible solution. Had they stayed even one more minute at the spice shop, they too would be dead like the others.

Thankfully, they weren't. He refused to lose any one else, he thought helplessly. Before they left, Monroe had found something they could use, The Strength of One's Blood as Monroe's family bible called it. They all hoped pinned their hopes on a single line.

"When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it, only the Strength of One's Blood can overcome the great evil and destroy the destroyer."

None of them knew what it meant but they found a blood spell. Eve had used her blood to open a portal. It seemed blood was god for more than just circling the veins. Rosalee knew of one particular blood spell, it was an impossible potion but considering everything that had happened since Nick became a Grimm, it didn't seem impossible anymore. Rosaleee had called the potion, the Force du Sang, which translated to the Power of Blood, a spell she read about in one of her parents' book while growing up. The Power of Blood…The strength of One's Blood, not exactly the same but close enough. It was all Nick could think, that it had to work because bullets were completely useless against Zertsörer in this world as they were in his.

His mind was frayed, his body, wrecked beyond measure but Nick had to keep pushing. Rest wasn't an option any more He fought his exhaustion fiercely but there was only so much he could take. He couldn't even remember the last time he slept which dangerously aggravated his physical and mental and by quadrupling his chances of making a mistake, especially when he couldn't afford to make any more than he already did. He drove Hank's car into the woods, cutting the engine about 300 yards away from the cabin so he could survey the grounds. Satisfied, Nick doubled towards the cabin and came across Trubel.

"Hey, where's Eve?' she asked him.

His silence spoke volumes.

"No." she said with feeling.

"Let's go," he beckoned as he walked past her towards the lit cabin.

He opened the door and suddenly froze. How would he tell his friends that Zerstörer was picking them one at a time while he was left standing? It was something he recognised from Monroe's bible, or was it from a long ago dream he had, he wasn't sure. Trubel pushed past him to announce his presence. Then he heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Oh God, I'm glad you're back, it's just so awful about Hank and Wu." said Adalind as she rushed into his arms. As much as he wanted to hold her forever, he couldn't.

"They didn't deserve that," added Renard.

"None of them did," said Nick sombrely.

He told them about Eve, how she died. It was a shock to them all but Rosalee took the news hardest. Nick told them how Zerstörer, for the second time, spared his life.

"He let you live again?" asked Renard.

"It's got to be the stick. I tried to use the stick but it didn't work." He declared, his anger mixing dangerously with his fear that perhaps there was no way to stop Zerstörer.

The cabin was silent as the full weight of his words sunk in. They had lost Eve, Hank and Wu. Nick took in every face still standing, how many more would he lose before this night was over, the wretched thought crossed his mind against his will as his gaze finally settled on Adalind? He felt his stomach lurch.

"I heard from my cousin Viktor." He heard Renard's voice, drawing him out of his morbid thoughts. "He forwarded me the copy of Adalind's contract."

"…And?" Nick turned to him cautiously.

Renard grimaced. He handed his phone to Nick for a view of the contract. The first think that caught his eye was Adalind's bloody handprint at the bottom of the page. It was old and worn but unmistakable.

"It mentions a reclaiming of a Hexenbiest from beyond but nothing on Zerstörer, at least not specifically. It doesn't mean he's not connected to this somehow. Stefania did a lot more than she let on…"

"And I was too gullible, following all her instruction without realising what it meant for my baby." Adalind said with palpable self-reproach. Without thinking, Nick drew her closer into his side. Nobody judged her for the past, least of all him and he hoped that his presence would help ease away some of her guilt. They were all in this together.

"There's a particular clause," Renard said, taking his phone from Nick and zooming in to a specific place before handing it back to Nick.

"We think this may refer to Diana directly, which doesn't make sense because the deal was for Adalind alone and her daughter as payment. It says, 'the huntress shall come forth and reign.' It's odd considering Hexenbiests aren't known for hunting. That's you and your kind." Renard tipped his head in Trubel's direction before settling on Nick.

"…And Diana the goddess of the hunt and the moon," Nick concluded, looking at Adalind.

"I didn't have a name for her until it came to me on that last day at the precinct." Adalind said wistfully.

"I hate to say it but your friends may be right. We've been dancing to someone else's tune this whole time and I don't like it. I don't like the idea of someone else controlling my moves as if I'm a pawn on chessboard. It's the reason why I stayed away from my family when they came calling and asking me to return into the fold."

…But you came running when Black Claw called, Nick thought bitterly but the time for anger and resentment for the past was over. They all had to focus on the present, on making sure they all had a future.

"What I don't understand is why your family do this to Diana?" Nick turned to Renard.

"You don't know my family but even then I don't think they did this. They didn't even know about Diana until after this Stefania woman got Adalind's signature."

"If I had known…." Adalind started but Nick cut her off immediately, taking her whole into the comfort of his arms.

"You couldn't have. None of us could have known what all our actions wrought. What I do know is that we are going to stop him, I promise you that." He breathed into the halo of her hair.

"You can count on us Buddy. This Zerstörer is going down." Monroe said and took his wife's hand in a show of solidarity.

"Where's Kelly?" he asked, tipping Adalind's chin expectantly.

She gave him a wan smile as she took him by the hand and led him into the basement where the children slept. Nick held on tight to her hand even as they went down the steep steps. He didn't care how awkward doing so felt. He did not intend to let Adalind go from this point forward. They found Kelly and Diana still fast asleep. They stood silently side-by-side as they watched their children at peace, he hoped completely oblivious to the reality of their situation. Satisfied, he led Adalind to sit with him on the third step from the bottom. It was a tight fit but he didn't care, it allowed him to keep her close to him as he slid his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." They both spoke at once.

"What?" he turned to her.

"Why?" She asked him at the same time. She sighed warily. "I'm really sorry about Hank, Wu…and Eve. I feel so terrible. like the old selfish me because you're still here with me and I'm relieved because the truth is I don't know what I'd do if you weren't. But you lost your friends, I know how much they meant to you and I wish I could take this pain you feel away, to tell you everything will be alright…"

"Adalind," he stopped her, his eyes welling up with fresh unshed tears.

It was too late for his friends, and it hurt like hell. He just hoped their deaths would not be in vain. Nick, using his free hand, tilted her chin so she could look into his eyes. "I love you." He said with sincere feeling. He watched as her eyes brighten much as before at hearing those three little words. Nick rested his forehead against hers and eventually his lips against hers. Adalind wriggled closer into his chest, sliding both her arms around his lower back.

"God, I love you so much," he said desperately between her kisses, drawing out her own breathy confession of love.

He felt his heart quicken with every kiss. It took several moments for him to calm himself long enough to pull away, albeit reluctantly. However, Adalind chose instead to bury her face into his chest, holding him close.

"I too am selfish, you know."

"You?" Adalind snorted sceptically.

"I am." He repeated

"Says the guy who practically gave it all up to protect the woman he had every right to hate."

"The woman I'm in love with," he corrected her and gave her another kiss to drive his point home. "I'm sorry I never told you how I felt when I needed to, when we still had time. I was afraid. I thought keeping it to myself would somehow keep you safe. Ever since I became a Grimm, I realised how easy it was to lose those I loved and I did not want to lose you. I was wrong and I don't want to lose you, not now, not ever. I already lost my mind when Black Claw took you away from me. I can't let Zerstörer anywhere near you. I too don't know what I'd do if anything were to ever happen to you and the kids."

They heard the muffled sound of steps above them get nearer to the opened floor panel at the top of the stairs.

"Hey guys we're ready."

It was Rosalee calling them back to join the rest.

"We're coming." He shouted back to her.

"I know you said bullets didn't work on this guy, this potion we're putting together should. It will." Adalind said. Her countenance assured.

They climbed the stairs, Nick following closely behind Adalind and joining everybody else at the main able where Rosalee had worked, preparing the potion and waiting for the final ingredient of his blood, Adalind's and the blood of a wesen, in this case, Monroe. Adalind went through the steps, telling them exactly what had to be done. The blood of three opposing forces used as a last resort to stop that which was unstoppable…so far. All three placed their right hand, one on top of another over the clay bowl with the placid broth, both Adalind and Monroe were woged as Renard plunged the dagger through the back of their hands, not once but twice to ensure a free flowing of the blood to merge and fill the bowl below. They stood silently as they watched the spell began to steam and then bubble furiously filling the cabin with a pungent smell. It smelled like death.

Rosalee grabbed a spoon and began to stir the broth, making sure it was evenly mixed but the metal began to sizzle in her hand before she dropped completely into the bowl. She jumped back in fright, examining her hand for any sign the deadly potion made contact with her skin. It didn't.

"I've never seen that before," commented Rosalee as they all peered curiously into the bowl.

"Let's hope that's what happens to Zerstörer," said Monroe, speaking what was probably in everyone's mind.

"Mommy." They heard Diana's voice and turned to face her as she came up from the basement.

"Is everything all right, honey?" Asked Adalind.

"I feel different, and I can't sleep." Replied Diana automatically.

Something was wrong; he could sense it in the air, in Diana herself….

"There's no need to be scared, sweetie." Adalind said as she approached her daughter.

"I'm not, not anymore." Diana said more robotically, which cause the hair on the back of Nick's neck to stand of end while his body tensed expectantly.

"Well, good because we have something that'll take care of him once and for all."

"Oh, so you know he's coming here."

"What?"

"He knows where Nick is," said Diana with a strange gleam in her eyes.

"…How?" Several voices said in unison.

"The stick tells him."

The cabin began to shake violently, the walls, the floor, everything.

"Oh no!" Nick cried out but before they could all react, Zerstörer burst through the door.

He lifted his staff into the air and Nick recognised his signature move immediately and shouted for everyone to get down but it was too late. Zerstörer slammed his thickly against the floor sending them all flying in different directions except for Diana, who'd remained firmly planted in the centre of the cabin, unmoving and unafraid, as if enthralled by the Destroyer that crossed dimension for her. Long gone was the little girl who'd screamed in terror and cried into her parents' arms, afraid.

Zerstörer extended his hand towards Diana. Without hesitation, Diana took the Destroyer's hand in hers and she walked out of the cabin with him, deaf to both her mother and father's cries for her to stop.

*/*/*

The Force du Sang was a complete bust.

He didn't believe it possible and in spite of everyone giving it all they got to stop Zerstörer, Nick watched as his friends fall prey to the Destroyer.

"When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it…." The words came to him like a rush of sharpened blades against his skin, piercing and shredding until there was nothing left. Zerstörer had killed them all.

Renard.

Trubel.

Rosalee.

Monroe.

Adalind.

All gone.

Nick knelt down at Trubel's body as his he searched for signs of life. His refusing to acknowledge what his head knew for certain. She was gone, they all were. He looked down at his hands and for the first time he saw them, stained red with blood, her blood. Adalind had died defending him, putting herself between him and the Destroyer. In a fit of rage and grief, Nick began to rub his hands furiously trying to remove Adalind's blood. The memory of her last moments began to choke him. He should have yelled for her to grab the kids and get away, but she would not leave his side and now he was all alone standing between this beast and their children.

"We're ready."

He heard Diana's strangely affected tone. Nick lifted his head and what he saw in her eyes wasn't natural even for Diana.

"My brother likes you too," She said to Zerstörer as if engaged in some telepathic conversation with him.

No.

"NO!" Nick let out a guttural sound he barely recognised as his own. "You've taken everything from me. You're not going take my son."

"That doesn't need to happen. None of this does." Zerstörer raised his hand in a pointing gesture around him.

Nick felt like he was in some twisted game where the rules changed on a whim but he was a quick learner if nothing more.

"So it's the stick is what you want." He stared down the Destroyer.

"It is."

"Only you can't kill me as long as I have it," Nick said spitefully.

"I'm willing to give you something in exchange for it."

"I'm not interested."

"You will be."

Zerstörer took two strides and touched his staff against Trubel's neck. Suddenly her body grew hot and then warm before she started gasping for air, coughing and life returned to her flesh, to Nick utter shock and disbelief.

"Trubel." He cried out in a mixture of hope and wonder.

"Nick, did we kill him?" were the first words out of her mouth.

Typical Trubel, under different circumstances he would have smiled but he couldn't.

"No." He replied.

"Then why are we alive?" She asked him in confusion.

"I can give them all back to you," said the man, demon standing above them.

I can give them all back….

What's a stick for his friends, for Adalind?

For the first time that night, Nick was at a crossroads. He could feel the stick burning a hole on the inside of is jacket, almost begging him to pull it out and simply hand it over

"What the hell is going on?" It was Trubel yet again but he was no longer paying her any attention.

I can give them all back….

"You can have it."

Resigned, Nick pulled out the stick and held it towards Zerstörer. Both staff and stick began to glow the same colour as Zerstörer's eyes and Nick could swear it felt like a heavy weight was lifting from his shoulders.

"No, Nick! You can't give it to this lying son of a bitch devil. If he wants the stick so bad, why doesn't he just take it? Why is he asking, when he can just take it from you? What is he not telling you?"

He heard Trubel's words but nothing registered. Nick turned to look at Diana and Kelly, which wasn't lost on Zerstörer.

"You might want to ask your children what to do," said the Destroyer and then he walked out of the cabin without looking back. It felt like a swift kick in the gut.

I can give them all back….

It's all he heard, over and over insistently

"Nick, you can't give it to him." Trubel reasoned with him.

"I want the people I love to live again." He said desperately as he pushed passed her chasing down Zerstörer. "Take it!" He cried out.

"No, Nick!" Trubel forced herself between, pleading with Nick to listen to her and not hand the stick over.

"Don't!" He yelled at her, trying to push her aside.

"I understand what you want, but this'll be the end of humanity as we know it. This isn't about us or the ones we love. I can't let you do this."

"Get out of my way!" he grunted furiously.

"No." Trubel said quietly but defiantly.

Then something happened that he never imagined; she attacked him, knocking the stick into the ground. Trubel quickly grabbed the stick and made for the woods. She had not made it past a hundred yards before the stick burnt her hand and she was forced to drop it, giving Nick enough time to catch up and thus tackle her to the ground. Nick had now switched from defence to the offence as if it weren't a thing. He was bigger and stronger than Trubel. His rational mind told him to stop what he was doing but the grief and adrenaline that rushed through his veins were at over capacity as he pummelled Trubel as if she was sandbag at the precinct gymnasium. He wanted to stop but he couldn't. Luckily, Trubel was no shrinking violet. She gave as good as she got. Nick registered a torn lip, broken nose and even a cracked rib or three. If he wasn't going to stop then neither would she.

However, they couldn't go on like this forever, he had to end this quickly. Nick saw his chance. Trubel had left her guard down so with everything he had. He knocked her off her feet and was about to deliver a final blow when something made him pause all of a sudden, fist still in the air. He felt sick within himself. This was Trubel, a fellow Grimm; someone he once took under his wings and was practically a part of his family and he was close to doing the unthinkable….

Grunting, he got off her and picked up the stick, with renewed determination.

"Nick! Nick, please don't do this!" Trubel begged him but he kept walking and let her cries fall away unheeded.

He was half way back to Zerstörer when the sky darkened and he saw strange lights or perhaps it was a flash of lightning with a roll of thunder right above his head. It grew louder with each step he took. He kept walking. Then he heard his name but it didn't sound like Trubel's voice, in fact, it sounded like…. No, he thought. It couldn't be. He shook his head as he kept walking but the voice grew louder, almost like it was right there beside him, the voice of his mother or maybe it was his aunt. He couldn't be sure.

"Nick. Nick. You must not. You cannot betray us and what we are. Stop! You must stop. Nick…"

"Nicky!" The voice said forcefully.

He turned around and there she was. He couldn't believe it.

"Mom?"

"You can't do what you want to do."

"How are you here?"

"Don't give away what you hold."

"They're all dead. I have no choice." He told her. She of all people had to understand he thought and turned away from his mother.

"Nick."

"Aunt Marie?" He said in shock. She was looked better than the last time he saw her, healthy but still leaning over her walking cane.

"What you think you have to do is not what must be done. Trubel is right," said his aunt.

How were they even there?

Unsure of his own sanity, he closed his eyes and shook his head for good measure trying to clear the fog clouding his mind. It did nothing for the heaviness in his heart; the pain from such a great loss weighed him down, possibly making him delusional. He opened his eyes and found his aunt and mother still standing there, to his left and to his right, their eyes stern but brimming with compassion.

"He can't take it from you. It has to be given to him," his mother said.

"That is why he has taken everyone you loved, Nick, so that you will give him what he wants."

He heard his aunt explain. It took everything within him not to break down and weep. No. He loved them but their words meant nothing to him, not when he was so close to getting everything he wanted, his friend and Adalind back. They didn't understand. He'd lost his mother and father too young. He'd lost his aunt and then by some miracle he got his mother back only to lose her again. He couldn't lose his family now, not after getting them back. His mother and aunt couldn't understand, Nick needed his family back and giving up the stick was the only way to do that.

However, his mother took him by the crook of his elbow, forcing him to face her, "If you do this, you will sacrifice the world to endless pain and suffering."

"…The world you saw in the Other Place."

"I want my friends back. I want Adalind and Diana. I want my son! I want them all back." He cried.

"Nicky, I know it hurts but do not give that stick to that monster. Believe me when I tell you that you can defeat him." His mother pleaded.

"I tried. I can't." He yelled and pushed past them but they held him back.

"You can," both women said at the same time, desperation in their voices.

"With the Strength of One's Blood." His mother said impassioned.

"We tried that and it failed. Zerstörer got up like it was nothing. I watched them die, one by one…. He could have killed me by he didn't and now they are all dead."

"Nick, you didn't use the strength of your blood," his aunt Marie said.

"Don't you see? He wants you defeated so you can run to him ready to give it all up. Don't you see? When the beast appears invincible and death the only fate to those who fight it, only the Strength of One's Blood can overcome the great evil and destroy the Destroyer. You can beat him. The strength of your blood, the blood of your Grimm ancestors, all of us it's inside you," said Kelly.

"It's what makes us who we are and Trubel too."

"…The strength we need that we all need comes from our family. It's where we've always found the way and the will to fight."

"And with that, we can defeat any evil."

"Together."

They were tag teaming against him but there was something in their words that he couldn't shake off. It was as though the fog had begun to clear despite his pain, despite the sorrow that threatened to drown him. While a part of him wanted to do as he intended and put an end to his pain, he could deny the fact that had heard his mother and his aunt and all they said. Nick realised that by denying Zerstörer what he wanted, he was giving up on those he loved. He looked down at the stick, still clasp firmly in his hand. He took a step forward and the two ghostly Grimm cleared a path between them and let him pass, his mind made up. His mother and aunt flanked him on either side as he marched through the last of the thicket and saw Zerstörer waiting at the fair end. He could see Renard's body lying on the muddy and frozen to the right of Zerstörer and his heart began to race thunderously as Adalind's lifeless body came into his view on the left side.

Nick quickly averted his gaze away from the woman he loved before losing what little remained of his resolve to do what he was born to do. He hadn't spoken one word when Trubel bounded from behind; imploring him not to give the stick away but he paid her no attention.

"This is what you killed everyone to get…."

"Give it to me," said Zerstörer.

Nick dropped the stick before coldly telling him to come and get it. Zerstörer angrily burnt away his human flesh and that's when all four Grimm surrounded their target. His mother was the one who threw the first punch. His aunt pulled a blade from her walking stick and sliced Zerstörer's back causing him to stumble forward where he and Trubel were waiting for him and wasted no time in getting into the thick of it. Four Grimm against one Destroyer or was that two Grimm, he wasn't sure. If the two women he grew to call "mother" were nothing more than a figment of his imagination, how did they manage to hurt Zerstörer? Nick didn't know how they were there but he was grateful they were. He lost them too soon after becoming a Grimm and he always longed to fight beside two of the most import people in his life, the two people who shaped him to be the man he was today.

They'd caught Zertstörer unaware. He must have thought that he'd face only Nick and Trubel but didn't count on more Grimm joining the fight but more to Nick's surprise, he found the stick he'd thrown on the ground still lying there, unmoved. Zerstörer had at least a dozen opportunities to grab it and bring about the end of the world but seemed to ignore it. It renewed the hope he'd long lost, perhaps there was a chance that this destroyer could be destroyed.

The fighting went on for what seemed like hours. Whatever Zerstörer was, he wasn't like any wesen he'd fought. There were moments when either Trubel or his aunt knocked him down and Nick thought it was for the count, Zerstörer got back on to his feet, to Nick's dismay and although he was tired and his body hurt like hell, Nick understood that giving up was not an option. He'd lost Adalind but his children still needed him and he'd fight with everything within him for them. He promised their mother before she died in his arms.

Zerstörer was beginning to slow, He had that big staff in his hand but he used for nothing more than to block an attack. Nick realised that he was on the back foot and that it was their opportunity to overwhelm him. Nick saw his opening and pounced, landing several heavy fists to the face and ribs. He waited for the stick to turn into a snake or some other nightmare to take him out but nothing. Kelly pushed herself between Nick and Zerstörer and landed a slew of her own punches until Trubel stuck a knife on his left calf. He collapsed to the ground. Marie, using her blade, stabbed Zerstörer in the back of his neck forcing a guttural growl from the Destroyer. Then something strange and completely unexpected happened, the staff flew away from Zerstörer's hand.

Nick watched as his mother hack off Zerstörer's arm with a tang machete he didn't even know she had. He dropped his eyes and saw the staff lying barely two feet away from him. Nick barely took a stride as he stooped low and lifted the staff from the ground. Instantly he felt a throbbing pulse of immeasurable power rippling from the staff and throughout his whole body, much like the stick in those few days he held it in his hand but this time, a thousand times more potent and efficacious. His little stick began to glow and flew straight into the side of the staff now vibrating in his hands. He saw all the fractures melt away, leaving behind a wholly different staff much to Zerstörer disbelief. Nick stood sure in front of a kneeling and now weakened Zerstörer with the very essence of power to destroy in his hands.

Zerstörer growled defiantly.

"You wanted it?" he asked the beast. "Here it is!" he shouted and then plunged the staff into Zerstörer's heart.

The air grew thick with Zerstörer's pained growls. It took Nick a moment to realise that wasn't the only sound he heard. He lifted his head towards the cabin and saw Diana running towards him screaming blue murder but Trubel acted quickly.

"No Diana!" Trubel cried out. She held Diana close to her chest but Diana shrieked the louder and fought to break free, sending spiked chills down his spine.

"Diana's stay back." He said aloud but he may as well be talking to a statue she ignored his pleas.

Something was wrong.

"I can't hold her Nick!" yelled Trubel desperately towards Nick.

Diana's eyes already shone a violent shade of violet, one he'd never seen before. He looked down at the Destroyer on the far end of the staff and realised that as long as he still drew breath, he controlled Diana so Nick plunged the staff even deeper and speared him through and through.

"DIE!" Nick shouted emphatically.

Zerstörer heaved one last cry and then collapsed. A thick puff of black smoke escaped through Zerstörer's lifeless lips and evaporated into the air, the last they will ever see of the Destroyer, hoped Nick. At that moment, he remembered Diana and immediately turned towards Trubel and his heart skipped a beat as fear gripped his heart once more. Diana was motionless in the female Grimm's arms.

"Diana!" Nick dropped the staff and instantly he was by their side as Trubel laid her gently down on the frozen ground.

Trubel stepped aside and allowed Nick to check for a pulse. Nick leaned his ear over her nose and mouth, "No, " he said before lifting two of his fingers to the side of her and waited in agony until he could find a pulse. His mother and Aunt joined them and watched silently in anticipation.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was there, slow and faint but very much there.

"She's alive," he said with excitedly. He heard Trubel breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh good," said the young Grimm as she flashed him a weary smile.

Diana began to groan and opened her eyes. He looked up at his aunt and then his mother. He had so many questions, like how they knew he needed them.

"We feel it," replied Kelly as though she read his thoughts as easy as hearing an audible voice.

"Why do you think Theresa came back? She felt it, too. We are all descendants of the first Grimm," said Marie.

"That stick you found, the one our Grimm ancestors buried is part of a much greater power. It is your responsibility now, yours and your descendant, guard it well," his mother instructed him.

You kept me from doing something terrible, he thought guiltily.

"We helped you find your strength." Marie told him without accusation.

"Take good care of my grandson. I like his name."

Nick felt a sharp pain in his heart. He remembered that it Adalind who had picked their son's name and now she was gone. Nick had been shell shocked after the sudden death of his mother and even though she had been the reason Adalind had missed out on the formative years of her daughter's life, Adalind had selflessly chosen to honour Nick's mother all the same. It was the first of many good surprises she brought into his life and now he had to find a way to live without her, he thought as he looked down at a still passed out Diana.

"I can't believe we did it. The two of us taking this thing down," said Trubel suddenly

"…The two of us? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Me and you. Who else?" Trubel replied as she winced in pain.

Nick turned his head and saw nobody else but Trubel standing beside him. His mother and aunt were gone. He looked all around them at his dead friends until his eyes landed on Adalind.

"…But I did nothing for them." He said sombrely.

He stood and walked over to Adalind's side, heartbroken in a way he didn't expect to feel and feared all at once. He looked over her; she didn't seem at all like she was dead. She looked like she was sleeping. Her hair fanned out about her as though on a soft pillow in the bed they shared since the night they moved into the loft after he'd sold his house. She looked like she was sleeping but she'd never open her again, he'd never get to a chance to gaze into their depths, bright, blue, and so full of joy and love. He curled his hands into fists, that's when he realised he still had the staff in his hands and he flung it away from him contemptuously.

Nick dropped to his knees, his body sagging under the weight of the last several hours. He still couldn't believe that she was gone even as he took her cold hand in his. He was trying to be strong, trying to hold on to what was left of his fractured mind. He made the right choice. He knew he did yet there she lay still, cold and breathless. If he still had the strength, he'd shout into the void at how cruel fate was to rob him still of the one he loved so wholly and completely, something he only just recently discovered. He saw the ring on her finger, like a sick joke of what could have been. Many a times he radically wished to pull it from her hand, throw it as far from her as East was to West and replace it with one of his choosing but any chance of that was taken from him. Nick twisted Bonaparte's ring free from Adalind's hand and threw it away, caring not a whit where it landed but sadly he'd never get to slip one on her finger, he mourned.

"Nick." He heard Diana's tiny voice call him. She made her way towards him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her as he met her half way. She nodded, bopping her head up and down in quick succession but he could see that she wasn't acting quite herself. He scooped her into his arms.

"Where did they go?" Diana asked him.

"Who?" Asked Trubel.

"…The other Grimm fighting with you, the one who was my other Mommy and another one with a stick."

"They are gone now." He sighed

"Will we see them again?"

"Someday…. Oh, my God. I think I can bring them all back to life."

"What? What are you talking about?" Asked Trubel confused.

I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, if it worked for you, it can work for them." He said and put Diana down. He walked over to where he'd dropped the staff and picked it up. He felt the familiar throbbing, buzzing feverishly between his fingers.

"Nick, something's happening."

He looked up at Trubel and then turned towards Zerstörer's body. It had turned grey, like stone before turning to ash. He would not have cared as all until a gust of wind picked the ashes swirling them high above the ground.

"No." he said.

Nick heard his son's cries from inside the cabin as dread filled his heart once more.

No.

"No!" he bellowed.

He raised the staff in his hand as if to ward off whatever evil would come through the portal only he felt a force, much like gravity pull him towards the portal against his will. He did everything in his power to resist. He heard Trubel's distress cries, as he got closer and closer to the portal. The last thing he heard

"Nick, no!"

That was the last sound he heard before the portal swallowed him up to oblivion.

*/*/*

"Mommy, it worked. I got Nick back for you." He heard Diana's voice

Those were the first words he heard and the brought life into his bones as he quickly lifted himself up. He wasn't sure where he was but Adalind suddenly kneeling in front of him, alive, alive and smiling was the best gift he'd ever received and it wasn't even Christmas yet.

"Thank God you're okay," said Adalind.

"You're alive." He responded in disbelief.

"Yeah…so are you." She smiled.

Without thinking, he kissed her, possessing her lips like a starving man at a buffet table and swallowed her surprised but happy gasp. When he finally released her, he was able to look around him. He was at Monroe's house.

"Oh, my God. You're all alive." He exclaimed a bit maniacally.

Was he dreaming?

Did the staff work ?

How? He wondered deliriously.

Then a sudden thought came to him mind. If the staff worked and brought everyone back…he looked down at Adalind's left hand. There was no ring on any of her fingers. Adalind was alive. They were all alive. Nick didn't know whether to shout, dance, or check himself into a mental hospital for exhaustion. He just couldn't believe it.

"What happened?" asked Eve clearly confused.

"You're okay." He said quietly, still unsure of reality.

The front door burst open bringing in Wu, Hand and Rosalee, "Oh, my God, we're too late." She cried out.

It was déjà vu.

Somehow, he'd gone back in time to the moment he escaped Zerstörer's world but that didn't explain Bonaparte's missing ring. He couldn't have gone back in time if the ring was gone. The staff worked but it did more than just bring his loved ones back. Nick realised that everyone that Zerstörer had killed when he crossed through the mirror hardly twelve hours before was alive, the men at the gas station on the city skirts, the kids under the Hawthorne Bridge, the entire Central Portland Precinct…. They were all okay! He hugged each and everyone one of them a little too tight they began to notice his odd behaviour.

"You're all okay." He repeated.

They heard loud footsteps outside and in walked Trubel. Besides Adalind, She was the one face he was truly grateful to see.

"What are you doing here?" someone asked.

"I've been looking for you guys everywhere. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen but I guess it didn't. It's really weird because I was sure I was headed towards your loft but somehow I ended up here," replied Trubel breathless, he assumed from running through the streets of Portland.

She stood tall and strong, no bloody nose, cracked ribs or any injury he and Zerstörer inflicted on her over the stick. Nick pulled her hard into his arms relieved to see his fellow Grimm.

"I'm so glad you're here and I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Huh?" he heard her say but Nick just hugged her tighter.

He realised that without Trubel standing up to him the way she did, they may not all be standing in Monroe's living room, alive and well.

"Nick, he didn't come back through." Diana spoke in the midst of the grown-ups.

He didn't know what to expect, for a moment he thought he was the only one who remembered everything that had happened but the gleaming look in Diana's eyes told him wasn't alone. She too, remembered.

" No, he didn't." He said.

"He's dead, and I'm not afraid anymore." She said.

Nick went down on his haunches and smiled at her.

"Neither am I." He said and embraced her, holding her tightly.

It was all so strange that only the two of them would have their memories of the other place in tact while everybody else remained oblivious, even Trubel who had helped destroy Zerstörer had no collection of what had happened.

"Kelly! Where's Kelly?" He asked suddenly frightful that something could have happened to his son while he was gone.

"He's okay," said Adalind as she led him to their son who sat happily oblivious to the world around him.

"Hey," he greeted his son before instinctively turning to Adalind who had watched him curiously since the moment he came through the portal. He couldn't miss her loving eyes or what he saw in them, "Are you alright," they asked him silently as if they sensed something beyond the surface.

"I'm so glad you're all here." He said emotionally.

"Nick, are you all right?" Asked Hank, followed by a very concerned looking Adalind.

"I thought…I thought you were all…." He could finish as tears began to cloud his vision.

"Nick?" He heard Rosalee.

He walked up to Adalind and took her into his arms, not trusting himself to speak until he'd composed himself long enough. Adalind smiled encouragingly at him, a simple gesture but one that meant the world to him. He turned to the rest of the group and began to speak, trying to find the right words.

"I'm just so thankful you're all here. I know this isn't going to make a lot of sense, but when I was in the Other Place, I didn't know if I'd ever get back. And I felt what it would be like to lose all of you everyone I ever loved anyone who ever meant anything to me, my family." He said as he looked at each of them, thankful to see them all standing in front of him after all he'd witnessed, gone through.

"We thought we had lost you, too, man," said Monroe.

He turned to Adalind and smiled.

"I can't even imagine my life without you in it. I don't even want to try," she said as she caressed the side of his face.

"I love you so much." He told her before talking that same hand and planting a kiss on the inside of her palm and held it close against his chest.

His heart was so full he was sure it would burst. He was finally home and everything would be all right, he thought. They had faced the absolute worst of the worst and come out on the other side.

"I love you too," said the woman of his dreams, the mother of his children, the woman he intended to wife and love for the rest of their very long lives

The Beginning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is possibly the last story I will write for the near future despite still having ideas to continue with these two, some my own and others suggested by readers. If I had all the time in the world I would write everything down but alas, I must bid Nick/Adalind as well as you fellow Nadalind fans heartfelt goodbye (for now…I hope).


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